


Pouring Rain

by HinatasShadow



Series: Keep What You Love [2]
Category: D.Gray-man, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XII, Kingdom Hearts, Naruto, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Genre: F/M, I don't own any of these series, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Nekos, Rape/Non-con Elements, Yaoi, most non-dmg characters are just used as extras, semi-crossover fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-20
Updated: 2013-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-12 11:00:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 27
Words: 111,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/810831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HinatasShadow/pseuds/HinatasShadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Allen and Kanda were young they knew nothing about the truth of society. Now that they are grown, the truth can be a harsh reality. When they are forcefully separated, they must find their own ways to continue living. </p><p>Main story that can be accompanied by Like Footprints in the Snow</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Prologue

Rain has followed the cloaked figure since they initially departed for this more dilapidated area of the city. The water is soaking into its thin coat despite how desperately they try to protect a small bundle from the chilling element. The unwanted wetness encourages the figure to move faster to their intended destination.

The elements seem to take it upon themselves to hinder the figure as much as they can by changing the rain into a downpour and adding a fierce wind that chills the figure to the bone. The figure has a brief respite from the downpour as it huddles under a porch awning just out of the light of a nearby streetlamp. The figure gages the distance from their current hiding spot to its destination, a dark building just out of the streetlamp's influence.

The figure makes a dash to the intended building, quickly hiding their face from view when passing under the lamps judging light. As the figure reaches the dark building it slowly and carefully pulls out a simple brown paper bag. They hold the bottom of the bag carefully as they set it down on the driest piece of cement they can find.

The figure gives the bag a sad look as the water begins to soak the bag and its contents within moments of being set down. They turn to the door and bring their hand up to knock and resign themselves to the fate of whoever would answer, but the figure looks down once again at the plain brown bag. Something seems to compel the figure to take one more look at it.

As they move to open the bag and possibly take another look at the bags contents, a light suddenly appears one of the windows of the very same building. The figures starts and quickly takes off down the street in the direction opposite of the one they used to travel, still keeping to the shadows in their flight. The cloaked figure never looks back, as it flees the truth reveling light seems to chase them.

….

Kanda had been restless all night. Not even Lavi's attempts to anger him could distract him from this nagging feeling. It was like something kept telling him that there was more than just rain outside tonight.

He tossed and turned in his bed as he tried to find some position that would let him sleep in peace. This was easier said than done, as Lavi was content to share a bed seeing as a single bed was a bit big for even the two of them together. However, Lavi slept like a rock and hardly moved from his spot on the bed, which just so happened to be exactly where Kanda normally slept.

When he could no longer even try to find a comfortable spot to sleep in, Kanda decided to get up and look out the window and prove once and for all that there was nothing out of the ordinary outside tonight apart from the pouring rain.

He moved over to the window and used the window seat as a boost to get him closer to the window. At first all he could see was the rivulets and waves of rain as streaked down the dingy window, but upon closer inspection more of the everyday details started to become clearer. The sign at the bakery seemed to be swaying as a wind started to pick up and even the streetlamp was starting to have its light become blurry as the water came into contact with the glass.

Kanda was satisfied that it everything was normal just as he thought it was and that is imagination must just be working overtime again, probably because Lavi was trying to make him read stories to him and Lenalee again. As he starts to turn from the window he sees movement near the awning of the bakery. He watches intently as the figure seems to be holding something close to it and it runs across the street, heading straight towards this building.

He leans closer to the window, but scoots closer to the bottom edge so as to try to see the figure better. It stands just barely in his view and he sees it move the bundle but can't see what it does with it. He goes to lean even closer when light suddenly floods the room.

He spins around to see Lavi with one hand still on the switch and the other rubbing sleepily at his eye. "Wha'cha doin' Yuu? Did the rain scare you or something, or is there a reason you're acting like a goldfish pushed up on the window like that?"

Kanda sends him an annoyed glare as he turns back to the window. "There's someone out there. I saw them come to the door and they had something with them but now I can't see anything. Turn off the light, I want to know if they're still here."

Lavi turns off the light and meanders over to join Kanda at the window. The two look intently about for any signs of movement.

"Hey Kanda? I don't think they're there any more. You sure you didn't just dream them? 'Cause I can't see a thing out there."

"Che, you can't see as well as me. Obviously you couldn't see anything even if it was right in front of you."

"Hey! Just because you can see in the dark and I can't doesn't make you better than me." Lavi crosses his arms in a huff. "I bet you made this up just to wake me up, didn't cha'?"

Kanda just glares at him and climbs off the window seat and heads out of the room. He heads down the hall and down the stairs making as little noise as possible. When he is half way to the door he hears Lavi start running after him sounding like an elephant running amok in the process.

When he reaches the front door Lavi is silent behind him as he reaches as high as he can to reach the top lock for the door. His hand fishes around for it for a bit before he is finally able to grab it and turn it to completely unlock the giant door.

Pulling it open required a bit of effort but soon he was able to slip out onto the rain soaked porch. He looks around a bit before seeing the bundle off to the side sitting in a large puddle of excess rainwater. He moves over to it with Lavi right behind him.

They stand on either side of the bad and each grabs an edge to move back to reveal the contents of the bag. When they pull back the wet paper they see a single thin blanket with a single white fluffy cat ear sticking out.

Kanda quickly closes the bag and squats down to pick it up by the bottom and not drop its contents. He grunts a bit as he tries to lift it, but Lavi quickly grabs the other side and the two of them carefully lift the soaking bag and move it and them back into the building.

….

"Miss Hevlaska! Miss Hevlaska!" Lavi runs though the building yelling for the caretaker. He goes through hall after hall not quite remembering exactly which room she sleeps in seeing as she normally goes after bed long after he does.

Eventually a young woman dressed in a white nightgown steps out of one of the many doors lining the corridor that Lavi is currently running through. She watches the child stumble through the hallway and reaches out to catch him as he trips over his own feet approaching her.

"My, my. Slow down there Lavi. What could you possibly be doing at this time at night? Did you have a bad dream? Did Kanda? Did he lock you out of the room again?" Her eyes flashed a tired concern at the small bouncing boy in her arms.

"Yuu and I found something! You have to come see!" Lavi wiggles huffing and puffing to get out of Hevlaska's arms and then races off. Hevlaska sighs and goes back into her room to retrieve her slippers before heading off after Lavi. She sees him waiting at the end of the hall, impatience clear in every aspect of his demeanor.

When they reach the front entryway they find Kanda peeling away the sides of the wet paper bag, exposing its contents. As soon as the blanket becomes visible, a loud shriek starts up, echoing across the entryway and through the building. Immediately Hevlaska rushes over and gently has Kanda move back so that she can see the cause of all this ruckus.

When she sees what is inside the shredded remains of the plain paper bag she gently moves her hands under the blanket and pick up the still screaming mass within. She unfolds a little of the blanket exposing just a little more than the lone ear and a look of shock and sorrow flashes across her delicate features.

She quickly covers up the newly exposed mass and holding it tight to her chest, dashes out of the room leaving a curious and confused Kanda and Lavi behind.

They look at each other for a moment, not knowing quite what caused their caretaker to rush out so fast, or why she took the blanket and mass with her. They look at what little remains of the bag and carefully tear it apart more to see if there is anything they missed in there. When they found nothing they decided that since Hevlaska had not come back yet, they would go and find her themselves.

They search through most of her normal spots, the kitchen, laundry room, playroom, and even their room but they cannot find her anywhere. They consider going and waking up Lenalee and her annoying bother to see if they know where Hevlaska went, but decided against it as they soon find a light shining under the door to the nursery and they quietly open the door hoping to find their caretaker. Inside this rarely used room they do indeed find Hevlaska and the bundle but she seems too busy to notice them. She is running around picking up various things, bringing them over to the mass doing something or another before running to put them back.

After a few moment of watching this, the boys approach Hevlaska as she finishes rebundeling the mass and holds it close to herself trying to help it stay warm. When she turns and sees the two boys staring up at her, she smiles at them and carefully lowers herself to the floor trying very hard to not jostle the bundle.

"I don't know how you boys knew that he was out there. But had you not gone out and brought him in, he surely wouldn't have survived till morning. Thank you." She moves the bundle away from her and shows the boys just what they have found.

The blanket covers all of it except for its tiny little head. Round and pink like most babies, but a bit more pale at the same time, a tiny nose that slow breathes in and out, occasionally twitching at something. Its eyes are closed tight and small fluffy ears are clamped close to its head. It seems smaller than a normal baby though its features seem proportionate to its current size.

It shifts around a little and a small hand appears from out of the blanket as it reaches to rub at one of its closed eyes. "Miss Hevlaska, somethin's wrong with it. Its arm looks all funny colored." Lavi looks at the kitten with growing concern and confusion since it is not acting like it is in pain or anything despite how its arm looks.

Hevlaska gives a small, sad smile as she pulls the child back to herself. "There's nothing wrong with him Lavi. It's just a birthmark, that's what causes the different colored skin. It's quite common and if I recall even you have one on your –

"But why is it covering his whole arm? I know mine isn't that big." He crosses his little arms in what is supposed to be a posture of defiance but he is smiling too much to have any effect.

Hevlaska laughs quietly at this defiant display from the little redhead. "I don't know why Lavi. He is the way he is, just like you are the way you are, and Kanda is Kanda. Besides, it's just on his arm, see?

She pulls back the blanket showing the younger boys the infant and that the mark does only appear on his left arm and nowhere else on his little body. Kanda however, is noticing something else.

"He has a tail." A small tail curves around by his little feet with a thin layer of fine downy fur on it, the same fur is also on his ears.

She smiles as she quickly warps the baby up again and pulls him closer once more. "And why shouldn't he, Kanda? He is a neko just like you, you know."

Lavi's eyes grow even bigger at this and he raises his hand and starts jumping up and down trying to get Hevlaska's attention.

"Yes Lavi?"

"So he's a neko just like Yuu? But why are his ears so close to his head and his eyes not open then? I can understand it if he's sleeping but I know he wasn't a second ago, but he didn't even look at us. And considering we saved his life and all, I think that was rather rude."

"It's because he's a neko that he is like that. In a lot of ways neko kittens are much like normal kittens. Their ears don't perk up or a day or two, just like his eyes probably won't open for another week or two depending on how early or not he was born. And in case you are curious, he won't be able to control his tail very well for a while either except for instinct."

"Ok I guess that makes sense, but if his ears are still closed how old do you think he is?"

"Well normally I would say that he is probably only a day or so if even that. He is so tiny I can't help but think that either he was part of a bigger litter, or that he must have been early which means that his eyes and ears could be closed for longer. So I can't say for sure."

The kitten starts to fuss and wiggle around again. Soon it starts crying, not shrieking as much as before but still loud and strong. Soon both of his little fists are flailing about as his demands continue to not be met.

"Kanda can you hold him for a minute while I go get a bottle for him?"

"Me? But what am I supposed to do? How do I even hold it?"

Hevlaska just smiles and brings the screaming kitten closer and gently sets him in Kanda's arms. She makes sure that he is able to support its head and body well enough before she gently takes one of Kanda's hands, the one not supporting its body as much, and gently places one of his fingers by the infant's mouth. It immediately latches on and begins sucking intently on it hoping that the finger will somehow provide it with food.

Kanda just stares at the kitten in amazement as Hevlaska leaves him and Lavi and goes off to prepare the formula. Lavi quietly and slowly scoots closer to Kanda to get a better look at their foundling and a contented smile fills his face as he watches it. He slowly reaches out and tries to pet the kittens ear, but as soon as he touches the ear the kitten immediately stops its sucking and starts crying and shrieking even harder than before, tears streaming down its little cheeks.

Hevlaska runs back into the room a partially filled bottle in one hand. She immediately goes to see if the kitten is alright and sees Lavi's hand just a few centimeters away from its ear and the clues explain themselves.

"Lavi, I know that its ears look soft, but you can't touch them yet. They are extremely sensitive right now so anything touching them will be extremely potent. Now, give it a few days when he has gotten used to you and his ears have fully opened up before you try that again. You don't want to accidently hurt him do you?"

Lavi looks taken aback with that statement, but is fully ready to defend himself. "I'm sorry! I didn't know! I wasn't trying to. But why do I have to wait for him to get used to me even after his ears have opened? He'll probably just sleep and cry a lot so it's not like he'll know me for a while but why is Yuu allowed to be holding him and touching him and I'm not? I don't think that's fair. I should get a chance to hold him." He is huffing by this point, is own face turning red as frustrated tears threaten to spill out.

Hevlaska looks at him with knowing eyes. "The reason that I can hold him is because he instinctually recognizes me as a type of mother and Kanda can hold him because he is a neko, and since this kitten probably hasn't had much exposure to humans, he sees nekos as safe and doesn't know much about humans. Do you understand now? He just doesn't know about us, so he clings to what is familiar. You probably did something like that too when you were his age."

Lavi looks to be in thought for a moment so Hevlaska takes the opportunity to go and finish preparing the bottle. By the time she returns, Lavi has backed up a few feet from the kitten and Kanda is letting his finger be sucked on again, effectively calming and quieting the kitten.

She gently pulls Kanda's hand out of the kitten's mouth and carefully encourages it to take the bottles nipple instead. It seems confused for a second with the different texture and taste but after the first few gulps of milk it begins to suck even more greedily desperate for every bit it can get.

"Miss Hevlaska?" Lavi hesitates for a moment. "What's his name? Or do we get to name him since we found him and all?"

Her smile brightens as she puts a hand in a pocket of her nightgown. "Actually, that is a very good question. I was surprised that when I initially took him out of that sorry excuse for a blanket that he had this around his neck." She pulls out a small red ribbon with a little piece of paper taped to it. "This paper has a single name on it, so I assume it's his. Want to take any guesses as to what it might be?"

Lavi thinks for a moment before shouting out, "Moonlight! 'Cause he's all white and stuff."

"Good guess, but that's not quite it. Kanda, do you have any ideas?"

"Che, he's Moyashi obviously."

Hevlaska giggles for a moment. "Well you are both wrong but good guesses though. This is his name." She extends the ribbon over to the boys. There written in horrible handwriting is the name ALLEN. "See, his name is Allen."

"I don't care what you people call him, his name is Moyashi."

"But Yuu! If he has two names, won't that just confuse him?" Kanda gives Lavi a glare.

"I know, how about you two go back to bed and figure out which name you like best? I need to get this little guy changed and ready for bed as well, so how about you come back and see him tomorrow. Does that sound ok?"

Lavi and Kanda roll their eyes at her. In reality, they can hardly keep their eyes open, but this is all so exciting that sleep seems to have been forgotten until she mentioned it just now. Hevlaska reaches over and gently removes Allen from Kanda's arms and brings him back into her own. The two boys slowly get up and start heading for the door, and eventually for their room.

As the two leave, Hevlaska gives Allen a long loving look. "Welcome to the Black Order Orphanage, little Allen."


	2. Adoption Day

Chapter 1

The sun begins its journey across the vast expanse of sky once again on this seemingly average day. A lone figure calmly makes his way through the small fenced yard and over to the one lone maple tree growing in its center. The figure stares into its intertwining branches searching for his hopefully unsuspecting target.

There, twitching just slightly in the breeze is the tip of a snow-white tail. The figure readjusts his position closer to the tail, but only so that if the owner of that tail were to happen to look down, all they would be able to find is the shadows of the leaves surrounding it. The tail continues to twitch restlessly, signaling the figure that his prey is deep into sleep and probably dreaming which will make this all the sweeter.

Taking his sweet time to avoid stepping on any twigs or astray noisy objects, the figure is now face to tail with his intended target. The tail starts to twitch more frantically, even gently swiping the figure at one point, signaling that the dream must be intensifying and will soon end. Checking once again to make sure that the owner of that expressive tail is still asleep, he reaches up and swiftly gives the taunting appendage a good yank startling the owner into awareness.

"Yaowwwww! My tail! Who would – KANDA! Why did'ja have to do that?" Said Kanda is to busy internally laughing at how his Moyashi is currently upside down hanging on to the tree branch for dear life by his arms and legs. However, all Allen can see is Kanda staring up at him with the same stoic expression as usual, seemingly unfazed by what he just did.

"Moyashi, get down from there. Don't you remember what day it is? Or are you still too sleepy to even acknowledge those who came to see you." Kanda gives a small glare into the tree willing Allen to remember so he didn't have to admit any of this himself. He can see Allen scrunch up his face a bit as he tries to remember, the picture complete as his mouth quirks up a bit letting a single pointy milk tooth stick out. The longer he stays in thought the more he starts to lose his hold on the branch.

"It's Adoption Day! That means that Lavi and Lenalee are coming back for today, right?" Allen now smiles widely, pleased with himself that he managed to remember something so important as the day that two of his best friends were adopted into real homes. He starts bouncing a little in excitement not realizing that he is about to bounce the branch right out of his grasp.

However, Kanda notices this and keeps an extra close eye on Allen so that when he does lose his grip, Kanda will be able to hopefully catch him before he can finish falling and potentially breaks something. It doesn't take long for the inevitable to happen as Allen loses his grip and starts to fall with a startled yelp. The fall is rather short as Kanda is able to catch Allen in his arms.

When Allen opens his eyes to insure that he really isn't dreaming and that he still is alive and in once piece, he looks up at Kanda trying to express with words just how grateful he is to him. Kanda looks at the Moyashi to make sure that there is no underlying pain that he is trying to hide, but is soon immersed in the silvery oceans of Allen's eyes. It's been like that ever since Allen first opened his eyes, Kanda would always get lost in how liquid and stormy they seemed and the colors seem to shift if you look just right, making it even easier for people to be swallowed in those boundless depths.

Trying to make sure that the Moyashi hasn't caught him staring, Kanda abruptly switches Allen's position so that he is now slung over Kanda's back like a sack of potatoes. As Kanda starts walking back to the building, Allen makes a fuss about being carried around a baby and Kanda is quick to remind him that as far as nekos go, Allen is still very much a kitten. This makes him relax and stop struggling, trying to prove that he is not a kitten!

Instead of heading towards the front door to wait for their friends, Kanda drags Allen into the bathroom. After setting him down on the off-white counter by the sink, Kanda rushes out of the small room only to return momentarily with a towel and a new set of Allen sized clothes. He sets them on the other side of the counter and moves to gently lower Allen to the ground.

Allen looks up at Kanda with confused eyes. Why would he need a bath now? It's not like he's dirty or anything. Kanda just rolls his eyes and reaches over to start the water for bath. After making sure that the water is neither too hot nor too cold, he plugs the tub to let it fill and then goes to move back over to Allen who is leaning over the tub watching it fill up.

It proves to be a bit of a challenge to get Allen out of his clothes that spent the night in a tree with him. But no matter how difficult that was; getting Allen into the bath was a whole other affair. As soon as Kanda turned off the water, Allen's head automatically shot up and his ears flattened against his head. He starts to back off from Kanda, but never lets him leave his sights incase he were to try something to get Allen into the bath.

Kanda, having been used to this game for years by now, uses the one trick he know will always get Allen into the bath, whether he wants to be there or not. He lets his own tail flick side to side behind him, making sure to let it twitch every once in a while to make sure that Allen is paying attention. Sure enough it works.

Allen's eyes lock on to his favorite toy, Kanda's tail. The black haired cat didn't like anyone touching or messing with it, so of course Allen made it his goal to always mess it up just to annoy Kanda. Slowly he crouches down and carefully slinks towards the tantalizing appendage, all thought of its owner forgotten. When he finally gets with in swatting distance he is picked up by his middle and deposited in the middle of the tub.

He flails around for a few moments before finally stopping to glare at Kanda who just sits there grinning in triumph. Kanda knows that once Allen is in the water, he won't get out for the rest of the bath even if he just sits there sulking the whole time. Just to make sure that Allen won't try to struggle again, Kanda cups his hands and fills them with water from the tub, letting the water go over Allen's head. This ensures that Allen won't move again since he despises getting his ears wet.

The bath progresses rather quickly after that and by the time that Kanda pulls the plug for the drain and picks Allen out of the tub, the still have a few minutes before Lavi and Lenalee are supposed to show up. There is one problem, the second he is out of the water, Allen grabs on to Kanda and starts rubbing his head roughly against his chest, trying to dry his hair much to Kanda's chagrin.

"Che, you were the one who was slept all night in a tree, you were the one that needed the bath, not me." But despite his words Kanda cannot help but smile at the kitten's antics, remembering that it was not long ago that he himself would do things like that.

"But Kandaaaaaa, you feel really warm." He moves his head around more, trying to soak up as much of the heat as possible. Kanda has been feeling a little warm today, but he has also been running around most of the morning trying to find Allen and make sure that he is presentable for their friends. So it was easily understandable. Deciding that pulling Allen away from him at this second was too much work, Kanda set about rubbing the rest of the Moyashi dry, taking extra care to make sure all the water was out of his tail and that it was fluffing properly back into place.

By the time that Allen has been wrestled back into dry, clean clothes they hear the bell for the front door signaling that their friends have finally come for their visit. Allen dashes out of the bathroom, leaving Kanda to clean up and put everything away. Kanda sighs a bit and starts to clean up, making sure that the dirty clothes make it in the hamper along with his now soaked shirt.

After making sure that everything is once again in order, Kanda wanders back to his room to find a dry shirt, not really caring about his current lack of one as he walks down the hall. Once he reaches his room though, he is having trouble breathing and he is feeling even hotter than before. Dismissing it as just a slight fever or just exhaustion from trying to work with Allen, he sets off to find wherever the Moyashi and run off too now. It seems to him that taking care of that kitten can be very tiresome some days.

He stops for a moment to see if he can here the Moyashi anywhere, and he can here his voice coming from the backyard, near the same tree he was in not even an hour ago. Sighing to himself Kanda lazily makes his way out to the others, stopping for a few seconds whenever he comes across a cooler area, anything to cool his fever a bit.

When he finally finds himself outside he can here Allen's squeals of delight at something or another. Rounding the corner so that he can take in the scene before him, Kanda notices that Lavi is busy hugging Allen a bit too tightly and the neko is trying desperately to get away before his back gets snapped in two from too much Lavi love. Lenalee is standing back a couple of feet just standing watching this thinking that this is the most adorable thing she has seen in ages and how she missed being able to see the little neko.

Kanda rushes over and pulls a gasping Allen out of Lavi's arms much to the kitten's relief and the redhead's annoyance. Holding the Moyashi close to him he turns back to Lavi. "Were you trying to kill him or something, how could you not tell that he couldn't breath?" Daggers in the form of glares are thrown at Lavi.

"I wasn't trying to hurt him Yuu! I just haven't seen him in sooo long. This is the only time of the year that I get to see you two anymore and I just want to make sure that someone loves him right since you're such cold hearted bastard." Lavi folds his arms and glares playfully back at Kanda.

"Lavi! Not in front of the kitten!" Lenalee scowls, but there is still an underlying grin that makes the scowl ineffective. The grin is soon broken as a giggle escapes from her.

"Lenalee Lee. I can't believe I let you convince me to let you come back to visit people with such dirty mouths! Why I bet they're just after you! Even that kitten is a device to take my sweet innocent sister away from me! I won't allow it! Come, we should leave before they corrupt you even m –

Lavi grabs Allen back and holds him out at Komui so that he is forced to look at Allen's tearful eyes. The unshed tears swimming around with the already established pools of silver prove to be too much incentive especially as a few escape their confines and slip silently down his cheeks, making Allen look the picture of heartbreak.

Komui sighs and backs off mumbling something about how being that cute should be illegal. He goes and leans on the building, pulling his beret down to try to hide his expression, but leaving everything still in his range of sight, just incase one of them tried to make of move on his dear sweet Lenalee. The other three choose to ignore him.

The day progresses rather swiftly as the three catch up on what has been happening to each other since the last time they were able to meet. Lavi has been working as an apprentice to a mysterious person known only as Bookman and is very serious about his job, especially when it involves traveling to foreign lands. Lenalee has a more quiet life with her brother as the couple that adopted them treats them just like any other children and that includes shipping them off to school everyday with others instead of having a tutor like they did at the orphanage, something they both miss. They go on to describe and tell tales about the rest of their daily lives and all of the things they have seen and done.

To Allen it all seems like a dream. These descriptions of things he's never seen and done flash before his eyes urging him to go out and see these marvels for himself. He listens attentively, his tail swaying a little at each new revelation, ears pricked forward as far as they can in there still partially squished to his head state as to not miss any detail. His whole posture is ridged as he attempts to glean as much information as he can.

"Say Yuu? You turn 14 later this month right? Well, how about we go out to celebrate this time? I know it's been years since you last went out into the city. Wha'd 'ya say to that?" Lavi looks at him, his emerald eyes attempting to coax the desired answer from him.

"Che, fine. Just nowhere fancy or anything like that. Simple is good. But what about Moyashi? He's not old enough to come with us yet." Kanda looks down at said Moyashi who is currently taking up residence in his lap, looking up at Kanda with questions bouncing around in his eyes. "Moyashi, you won't be able to come with us 'cause you can't leave the grounds until you are either adopted or 14. Would you be ok for one night?"

Allen seems a bit confused and starts to chew a little on his lip, just not hard enough to break the skin. "Why do I hav'ta wait to be 14 before I can leave? Komui used to leave all the time and he was only 10! I'm older than that, so I should be able to come with right?" His smile regained, he once again looks up at Kanda, a sense of his young logic resounding its rebuttal.

Kanda and Lavi sigh, knowing that this difference will be difficult to explain to him right now. The fact that it is safer for a human to go out at a younger age than a neko kitten is a hard one to explain without confusing him too much with the facts of how the world really works. Thankfully they are saved when Allen suddenly jerks off of Kanda's lap. "Kanda, you're hot again." He puts one of his hands on his forehead and reaches over and puts the other on Kanda's forehead. "You're burning up!"

He races off and into the building, after a few minutes he returns with Hevlaska in tow. "Miss 'Laska, I think Kanda's sick." The concern evident in his voice, he doesn't want his best friend to be sick. If Kanda's sick, whom will he play and cuddle with when Miss Hevlaska is busy?

"I'm sure he's fine Allen, just a little fever is all." She reaches over to put her hand on Kanda's forehead, just like Allen had. She removes her hand almost immediately. "Kanda, I think it's time for you to come inside now. I think I know just the thing to help with your excess heat." She gently grabs hold of his hand, helping up from his seat on the ground, and starts steering him towards the building with her. Allen watches them leave, the concern evident in his eyes.

With Kanda gone, the conversation resumes, but not as heartily as their black haired friend never did return. Allen looks dejected, distracted, and concerned the entire time, but he resists the urge to run off to see his friend as he has others with him at that moment that he rarely ever gets to see. But while it's nice to see them, he's more concerned with Kanda, fearing that he did something to make it worse, or that he might catch whatever it might be too.

When the sun finally starts to set the Lee siblings and Lavi say their goodbyes to Allen telling him to relay the message to Kanda the next time he sees him. He agrees to that and watches from the front porch until he can no longer see the three walking away anymore. He sits there a little while longer, hoping that maybe they will come back, even if it's just to say they forgot something. Mostly he wishes that they didn't have to leave for as long as they do. He misses being able to see them whenever he wanted before they were adopted.

….

A week later Kanda was feeling much better, far cooler, and more than ready for his night out with Lavi and Lenalee. He's a bit anxious since he hasn't been out of the orphanage since he was left here, but he really wants to see just how much the city has managed changed in the nearly 12 years since he last saw it. He really hoped to be impressed by all the improvements he had heard were rumored to have been put into place.

The night that he gets to leave for his dinner, he dresses in some nicer than normal clothes, a plain black tee with dark blue jeans and some sneakers. Deeming himself sufficient for the night, he heads for the door and is ready for his brief walk alone as he will be meeting the others just down the street. However, it doesn't take long for Allen to start to follow him to the front door. When they reach the porch Kanda turns to tell Allen to 'stay', but finds that Allen has already taken up a seat on one of the top steps.

"Have fun tonight Kanda. Tell me all about it when you come back, ok?" Allen smiles up at him. His eyes betraying that he really wants to go too, but won't follow for Kanda's sake. Besides, he has never been out of the orphanage in his memory so it won't be the same kind of experience for him as it will be for Kanda.

Kanda reaches down to ruffle Allen's hair a bit. "Of course I will, Moyashi." He pats Allen's head one more time before turning and heading off to meet his friends. Every once in a while he looks back to Allen to make sure that he isn't following, and to make sure that he realizes that Kanda will be leaving him for several hours for the first time in his life and he will have to live with that fact.

Allen watches Kanda go off down the street and let his smile fall from his face. He really wants to go too, but he doesn't want to bother Kanda or get in the way, so he is content to stay here and wait for Kanda to come back.

….

By the time Kanda comes back to the orphanage that night he was far more disheartened than he was before he left. So much had changed from what he once knew, and hardly any of it was good. Yes there had been improvements to the city itself, but the people were what had changed the most. Their looks and snide comments still ringing in his ears. Those he could deal with, but the worst of it was that he had to wear a collar. A collar! Just to be let into the restaurant! And even after dinner, wherever they went, either Lavi or Lenalee had to claim him just so that people would be more at peace around him. It was degrading, and he couldn't wait for the night to end. He didn't like being looked at like he was some type of freak show. He couldn't even voice his relief that Allen didn't have to see any of that yet. If the little Moyashi had had to see or hear any of that Kanda didn't know just what he would have done. Let the Moyashi stay innocent and ignorant a little longer.

He was a little pleased though when he didn't see Allen waiting on the front steps anymore, he didn't want to have to explain his current mood to the younger. Figuring that the kitten had either gotten bored or tired enough to head inside for the night he made to do the same. As he quietly makes his way to their shared room, he hears some faint crying and hurries along to see what is wrong.

Upon entering the room all he can immediately take in was that the light was off, meaning that Allen was in bed, but Allen was not asleep as he was crying softly into his pillow. Kanda tries not to sigh as he can guess the reason for his Moyashi's distress. He gently sits down on the younger's bed, careful not to disturb him too much. When he doesn't get a response after a few minutes, he reaches down and pulls the younger to his chest and lets the Moyashi cry out all his tears, not caring that his shirt is being soaked in the process.

Eventually his crying slowed down enough so that he could choke out a few words. "I'm sorry Kanda. I just ruined your shirt." His ears are even more droopy than normal and his tail is between his legs by now.

"Baka Moyashi." Kanda pulls him even closer, his head now resting on top of Allen's. "It's just a shirt. And those are just tears. Nothing a wash can't fix. But what I'm worried about is you. What's wrong? Did something happen when I was away?"

Allen is silent aside from the occasional snuffling for a few seemingly longer than normal minutes. "I thought you weren't coming back. It got dark and you still weren't here. It was even after lights out and you weren't back then either." Allen broke down into soft sobs at this confession.

Kanda lets the Moyashi cry for a few more minutes before he removes his head and takes Allen's cheeks in his hands, gently tilting his head up to look him directly in the eye.

"No matter what, I'll come back for you."

"Promise?"

"Promise."


	3. Allen's 14th

Chapter 2

Allen looks out the window, his eyes widening slightly as they are carefully tracking even the subtlest movements of the robin. It seems to be completely unaware of the predator hardly a yard away, just waiting to make a move against its delicate life. It just goes about its business taking small seed after small seed from the small cylindrical bird feeder hanging from the rain gutter.

He has been careful to take note of the particular behavior this bird exhibits when this it is nearly done eating. He has been watching it come for the last several days, waiting and planning just for this single moment. He backs up very slightly carefully hunkering down, but always keeping an eye trained on his intended prey. With barely contained twitches of his tail and his ears perked as forward as they can go in their still semi-folded state, he waits as stilly as he can. Within seconds of when he knows it will take flight, he launches himself at the window, aiming directly for the still seemingly unaware bird.

There is a resounding thud as Allen leaps face first into the window, but he is deigned access to what he has planned so carefully to receive. The bird turns towards the window after the sound of the thud. It looks at the neko for a moment, its eyes seemingly taunting him, before it flies the short distance to the window ledge. Once there it looks directly at Allen before it promptly turns around and poops directly on the window where Allen's face is before flying off to find a quieter meal.

Hevlaska happens by when this is occurring, but choses not to interfere with Allen's antics, but to watch instead in case anything were to happen. After the bird has flow off to parts unknown, she walks over and gently reaches over and delicately grabs Allen's shoulder, encouraging him to turn around and look at her. His face is beet red with the fact that he was out smarted by a bird and that someone was there to witness it. Embarrassment oozes from is very being.

"Allen, what did that poor window ever do to you? It was there first you know." She lets a small smile escape, but inside she is genuinely laughing at the antics of this no longer quite a kitten. She gently takes his hand and leads him to the bathroom so that she can clean up a small cut that is starting to bleed just over his left eye. Wounded pride in tow, Allen ducks his head and tries to hid his lingering embarrassment from any that they might have happed to come across on their short trip. Upon arriving at their destination, Hevlaska makes him sit on the counter while she goes to the small medicine cabinet that also doubles as the mirror in front of the sink.

As she returns and starts to dab at the cut with some antiseptic she notices that despite it being a minor injury, Allen still does not seem to be as perky as he was before the bird. His ears have drooped a bit and his tail is just hanging lifeless. Even some of the brightness seems to have left his normally expressive eyes.

"Allen, it was just a bird. Just because you didn't take the window into consideration does not mean that you can't try another time or that your pride has been hurt in any way shape or form." She places a small bandage on the cut, sealing the area. "Besides, I thought you would be more excited about today. After all, Kanda and Lavi are taking you into town for your dinner on your 14th birthday tonight. So smile." She pushes his cheeks into a smile, the goofy kind that she used to make at him when he was still a baby. But the second she releases them, they fall back into their original semi-frown.

Allen remains silent and unmoving for several exceedingly long moments. "Don't you remember? When Kanda came back from his 14th birthday dinner, he changed. I can't say what caused it, but I don't want that to happen to me. I'm glad to finally get to see at least a part of the world that has been so close yet so far away for so long. But I don't know what's out there. What if something happens, or people don't like me, or we get lost. Anything can happen. It's kind of a scary thought."

"The outside world can be a very scary thing if you let it. But –" she taps his nose "that's why you can always come back here when things get too scary. This may not be the best place in the world, but for many, this is home. And this will always be your home as long as you want it to be."

"But what if I find a different home and get adopted or something like that? What if something happens and I can't get back here? Will this still be my home then?"

She pulls Allen close. "For as long as you want it to be."

….

Time seems to fly for Kanda as the last thing he knew was that he was enjoying a rather pleasant nap in the sun, but all of a sudden he's standing in the entry way with Allen practically pushing him out the door in his eagerness to go out for the night. The eagerness was understandable to an extent, but for Kanda who had been leaving every few nights for the last month to work on Allen's present, the thought of how heartbroken Allen was likely to be by the end of the night was a little much.

He knew that Allen expected to see and experience certain things, and while most of those expectations would most likely be met, Kanda could not help but wonder how much of Allen's innocence would be lost as a result. The world was not as kind of a place as it seemed to be from inside the walls of the orphanage. And as much as he would have liked to keep the Moyashi safe from it forever, he didn't have the heart to deny the pathetic and impatient looks that Allen was now reduced to shooting him from across the room.

He sighed and threw on a simple gray sweater and started to head for the door. Allen seemed to not be paying him that much attention anymore as he was nearly to the sidewalk when a streak of white fur happened to fly past him. He tried to smother a laugh as he could see Allen stopping in front of him and staring intently at the break in the sidewalk where the property lines of orphanage ended and the outside world began. He leaned down and slowly reached out a hand to place it just outside of the line and looked in wonder when it didn't seem any different from where he was crouching. He quickly stood up and stepped over the line, only to look back and realize that he really was outside the infamous line. He had made it successfully into the outside world.

Realizing that he would be staying here for the entirety of the evening if he didn't do anything, Kanda started to walk past Allen, grabbing him by the arm to steer him past his first revelation of the evening and on to the entire purpose of the night, Allen's introduction to the world, not just a single spot of sidewalk less than an inch from home.

Just walking down their own short bit of street before they were supposed to meet Lavi proved to be more of a challenge than Kanda had originally planned. It seemed that Allen was enchanted and enticed by just about everything that they came across. From seeing buildings that had been hidden from view from where they live, to the novelty of having to wait to cross the street, and wait in a spot foreign to him for the redhead to finally get there.

Kanda eventually started to get annoyed that Lavi was running as late as he was. He was supposed to be at that spot over 15 minutes ago, and since he wasn't, Kanda was being reduced to having to hold Allen firmly by the arm to make sure that he did not start wandering off whenever something caught his eye. And considering that one of the main streets was just visible from where they stood, this was easier said than done.

By the time that the redhead had finally caught up to them, he could be seen bent over and wheezing a bit from his run. In that amount of time, Kanda noticed a small brown, but full backpack with Lavi. This was not in the original plan, and judging by what little of the expression the redhead worn when running their way, something critical had changed yet again, and it seemed to be for the worse.

By the time he had caught his breath and the stitch in his side had decreased in pain, Lavi was anxious to be moving. He knew that all of the plans that he and Kanda had carefully concocted for Allen tonight would have to drastically change. It seems that a new law had just been passed, the third in as many days, banning all nekos from public establishments without proof of ownership and a leash. Something he found disgusting and something that he was not about to subject his friends to.

For Allen's sake he tried to put on the best smile that he could, and absentmindedly started scratching the back of his neck nervously as he delivered the news. "Well it seems that there was a little hitch in our plans for tonight. But never fear! I have a new plan. Instead of a dinner out in a loud crowded place, we shall be going to my place for our own private meal and be cooking together! How does that sound?"

Allen looked thoughtful for a moment, but Lavi's attempt at a smile must have been contagious as a huge grin spread across his face. "I like that idea! I think some place with a bunch of people might be a bit much, but as long as I get to be with my two best friends, I'm content."

Kanda had the urge to hug the young one. For once his naivety was proving to be a useful thing. This way they would be able to explain the truth of things in a place that he would feel more comfortable and away from more prejudice and unwanted glares. In all honest, this held just a few more merits than their original plan, except for the part about first hand experience, that would have to come later.

"Great but before we go, there are some things that I kind of need you to wear so that we won't get into trouble along the way." He slings off his bag and starts dragging out items. "There's a new law out saying that any neko found without a collar will be brought immediately to the detention center until they are claimed by an owner. And well, we can't let that happen, can we? Oh, and Allen, I know it's a little big, but you might want to put on this sweatshirt, just throw up the hood to try and hide your ears some." The Moyashi looks a little confused at this, but simply does as he is told, though Lavi was right in saying that the sweater might be too big, even with the hood up, the neckline still fell just over his shoulders, but at least his ears are hidden fairly well.

As Kanda helps him put on one of the two black collars, he reads what has been written on the tags. It is in the same format as if was a name and address, but only this was a message. I am a free neko, not the pet of some ignorant fool. Allen feels that if someone were to actually read this they would either laugh or be highly offended. He is about to mention this, but he notices Kanda putting up his own hood allowing his midnight ears to disappear from sight a bit easier than Allen's since Kanda's have been fully erect for years by this point.

As soon as everything seems to be in place, Lavi sets off to take the most direct route to his home, though he occasionally making a slight detour or two in order to avoid some of the more populated or unfavorable areas. In all it took roughly 15 minutes to arrive at his home, a bit longer than normal, but as long as his friends made it there safely and without incident, he had no complaints.

Upon entering the residence, Kanda promptly removes his hood and takes off his collar, Seeing Allen having a few troubles with the buckle on his, he bends down to help his little Moyashi. Eventually the hoodies are discarded in a pile with the collars for later use and the atmosphere becomes far less tense.

Once the tension has dissipated to a more tolerable level, Lavi turns and heads for the kitchen, not even bothering to look back to see it the others are following or not. Now, the kitchen itself was a bit small and cramped with the three of them, but they managed to make things work out. It took some careful maneuvering, but by the end of the hour they had finally succeeded in making hearty meat rich stir-fry.

When the meal was finishing cooking Allen happened to notice that Kanda must have disappeared at some point. Figuring that he would be back soon and that his absence is nothing to worry over, Allen continues to help Lavi by setting the table, though he is a little confused when he is setting the table for four people instead of three. But he doesn't think too hard about it for he figures he'll find out soon enough, maybe Lenalee really would be joining them after all.

Just as Lavi and Allen sit to wait for everyone to come to the table for the meal, Kanda slips back into the room with a much shorter man following behind him. The man seems to be a fair bit older than the others present, the dark rings around his eyes proving that he has had far too many sleepless nights than a normal person, and quite possibly was suffering from another that night as the single plum of remaining hair on his head is in quite a disarray. The man doesn't say anything has he crosses the small room to sit next to Lavi and across the small table from Allen. He gives Allen and appraising look but never says anything other than merely inclining his head slightly in greeting.

The meal is fairly silent, as Allen doesn't know what to make of this new person, but doesn't want to draw attention to himself either. He really does want to ask Kanda and Lavi about some things like why they had to have collars and why people thought that nekos need owners and such, but he doesn't want to have to ask and possibly make a fool of himself with someone he doesn't even know in the room.

The silence continues until it reaches an uncomfortable level, but still it continues on until everyone is done eating and the dishes have been cleaned and put away once more. Kanda looks to Lavi for a moment as if looking for permission for something and when he receives a nod, goes to sit down next to Allen again, only digging something out of his jeans pocked in the process.

"Allen, tonight marks 14 years since Lavi and I found out outside the orphanage. And never once in the entire time that I have known you, have you ever asked about why you could have possible been left there, or about what happened to your parents. And honestly I can't tell you those things, but I can give some speculation as to why you ended up where you did. But before we get to the serious issues, I have something for you." He holds out his hand for Allen to examine.

Allen gently twists his hand around and urges Kanda to move his fingers back so that he can see whatever is hiding behind them. When the fingers flatten out a small gold ball is revealed. Allen carefully picks it up and begins an examination of its surface. It is just about the size of a Ping-Pong ball and completely smooth except for a slight indent in the shape of a slightly lighter gold, old fashioned cross. Allen moves his fingers delicately over the design and all of a sudden the ball starts to grow a pair of tiny horns on one side of the cross and four stubby legs on the other. It shuffles around Allen's hand for a few moments before a long golden tail with an almost feathery like tip emerge behind the cross and two extra long golden wings pop out. The object tests its wings for a moment before it starts fluttering them just enough to let it start flying lazily around Allen. Allen watches and giggles with fascination at this strange little device as it moves about and eventually settling in his hair.

He turns back to Kanda with a huge grin on his face. "Thank you Kanda, and Lavi I'll bet you had something to do with this as well. Thank you both. I don't exactly know what it is or what it's for, but it's still one of the best birthday presents I've ever gotten."

"That thing you have there young neko, is a golem. In this case, it is a special golem called Timcanpy that will be a constant companion for you, if you need it to. It also will be able to tell us if anything were to ever happen to you so that help will come as soon as possible." The older man looks at him with a serious expression. "You may not know too much about this side of the world yet, but in time you will be forced to face the harsh reality that things are not always as they seem."

"What do you mean? Does this have anything to do with the collars and why the treatment of nekos is different here than back home? Please, I need to know." He turns and appeals his large stormy eyes to Bookman who merely shrugs.

"I can tell you the basic history of things, but that's about it. You might not believe it, and that's your choice, but I'll tell you what I can though all of it is from a human perspective, mind you." He clears his throat for a moment before continuing. "For many centuries humans and nekos lived in the same lands, but rarely interacted with one another as they had no need to. Humans were often too preoccupied with the expansion of their lands and petty wars, but nekos were more concerned with keeping what they had and letting their small numbers grow. For you see, nekos have always been small in number for reasons that no one knows even today.

"Eventually, human expansion threatened neko territories all around the world and for a while humans looked upon them as simply the uneducated natives. They started to try and humanize them as much as possible but all that did was introduce them into an already prejudice society. It became so bad that nekos started to leave human cities in groups just to try and escape to raise their younger generations in peace. As you know, nekos live a lot longer than most humans so while many humans have forgotten many of their misdeeds in the past, many of the older nekos still remembered.

"For a while things seemed to calm down and the humans left the nekos in relative peace as long as they stayed together where humans knew where they were and stayed out of human cities. The problem was that humans knew that they existed and wanted to exploit that. About four centuries ago, humans started to kidnap nekos and bring them back into the human settlements either for entertainment purposes, pets, or slaves. It reached such a point that many of your kind feared to even leave their homes for what if they never returned to their families? The elders of that time could remember back to when they had first lived among the humans in their cities and knew that the situations would only be worse now. So they put together a council to petition for the release of their friends and family, but nothing helped.

"Eventually the elders from around the world reluctantly agreed to war against the humans until they could bring their own people back and put a stop to those who would try to undermine them again. It was a terribly bloody affair that lasted for several decades. And despite their efforts, in the end it was the humans who had the upper hand just by shear numbers and technology. Most of the causalities were nekos whether they died, were kept as prisoners of war, or were thrown into the very situations that they had tried to stop.

"It was then that the human governments decided that they needed to 'crack down' on the 'neko problem.' Within the last two centuries all of the nekos were all rounded up and forced into larger cities where for the most part they have simply kept to their own sections of town, but the humans still were not satisfied. The disappearances continued until the nekos finally made their case once again to their respective governments. When they showed just how much their populations had decreased and how if there were still no laws to stop this, that within the next decade they would have disappeared completely. And while they might not have full rights as citizens of the countries they were in, they were never told that they had to be bought and sold like animals. A law was passed that gave them roughly a century of relative peace, but then they would have to fight their own battles after that.

"That century ended roughly 30 years ago and the nekos have been paying ever since. New laws were passed immediately defining nekos as animals and they were driven out of their homes and businesses. Everything they owned was taken away from them. It's only continued to become worse since then.

"In recent years, I haven't hears of a single neko family left in this entire city has been able to escape. It has gotten to the point where humans are now allowed to own nekos as property. Now the trade of nekos is still technically illegal, so you won't see it be blatantly displayed in public and people still do get arrested on occasion for it, but it is there nonetheless. That is why for so many years, any neko that had been placed in an orphanage was safe until they reached the age of 14 and could be stolen right off the streets. That is why staying in the orphanage for you and Kanda is so important. It is your last safe place for a few more years, but even then, if you wonder even a few feet from there, you are free game to them.

"You'll have to be extra vigilant now that you've been outside at least once. Even if you haven't seen them, they've seen you. And they now know that you are free game and will use that to their advantage. When your time at the orphanage is up in the next few years, you will need to get out of here as fast as you possibly can. There are people who will help you and protect you better than any of us can if you were to choose to remain here. If you wisely choose to try and escape when the time comes, then this will be considered the first night of your training. You will need come here at every chance we can safely get you here and back, and while you are here you will learn more about what is truly happening to the world as well as how to better protect and prepare yourself against it. Does that seem fair, young neko?"

"I guess. I mean, I don't really understand what all is going on, but I think I understand enough for now. If coming here means getting stronger so I can stand on my own and not have to rely on others that might not be there, I'll do it. I want to be able to help people, not be a burden to them. When can I start?" Fire is blazing in the back of his eyes showing just how much he wants to understand and help despite the grim news he has just received. News that would have shaken the resolve of most but seems to just be one more reason for Allen to do as he believes.

"Such a young and eager child. He seems to find strength where others would fall from what they have learned of the truth. Well, tonight will count as a brief history lesson and considering how late it's getting, I suggest that you and Kanda start for home before it's too late."

"Too late for what?"

This time Lavi is able to answer before his mentor. "One of the newer laws is a curfew for neko. They can't be out any later than 10. And if any do dare to stay out that late, or aren't fast enough to be off the streets by then, well let's just say that most of them don't make it home."

"Oh."

"Che, don't let them scare you too much. I've been out past curfew many times and I've obviously made it home every time without any troubles."

A small bit of tension seems to drain from Allen's face, but it's quickly replaced by a realization of just how many times he might have lost Kanda, just because some people can't see past their own prejudices.

"Come on Moyashi. If you're so worried about it, then we better leave now so we can be safe in out beds before anyone even thinks of crossing out paths. Personally, I think you are blowing this all out of proportion, but then again, according to Bookman, my opinion on such matters doesn't carry much weight around here."

"That's right, because you are still young and cocky. I don't even want to think of what it would take for you to finally get it through your head the kind of danger you put yourself in some days." Bookman lets off a sigh that seems to resonate a bit throughout the room. "Now, I'd be leaving if I were you. We don't want you to push your luck more than you have to."

"Che, whatever."

With that Kanda, Lavi, and Allen finish up the final cleaning and preparations for leaving. And after thanking Bookman for the meal and the conversation, they headed back to the orphanage. Not a single one of the trio remembering the sweaters or collars left in a pile just off from the entryway.

….

The walk home would have been completely ideal if not for all of the new revelations weighing heavily upon Allen. The sky is clear with the stars seemingly shining just a little brighter than normal; the moon is nearly full providing a clearer view of its uneven surface and also illuminating even more of the sky than normal. The roads are clear of people as well providing little to distract Allen from his thoughts.

They stop at their normal corner for parting ways. The orphanage is just out of sight, but still relatively close by. Kanda is ready to be back home, but he looks over and sees that Allen is looking a bit depressed. He's not surprised seeing as the Moyashi has basically been told that everything he thought to be true of the outside world is actually a lie. He wants to help, so he takes a deep breath and tries to calm his own nerves before he attempts to calm his Moyashi.

"Moyashi, you know the more you look at the ground, the more you'll miss by not looking up." Allen starts a bit when he realizes that he is being addressed, but quickly turns his head to the sky. Kanda can see wonder begin to fill those liquid depths as Allen takes is a sight that cannot be found anywhere else, even by looking out a window every night, but one you have to be able to see in a more open area like the one they're in. Even Lavi eventually looks up and a small but content smile drifts onto his features as he allows the moon's glow to calm even his multitude of thoughts. None of them could say how long they stayed like that, just looking and reveling in the experience, but they did not really care.

"Well, well, well. Looky what we got here boys. It seems a couple of escaped nekos weren't paying attention. Shame on them. They should know better than to think that something like a curfew could keep them safe on the streets. Why, just look at how young they seem. I'll bet that they've never even had a master yet." A sly grin splits the man's face; a look of pure contempt is thrown at Kanda and Allen, as they have moved a little closer together, trying to figure a way out of this. "I think we should help them with that."

Lavi steps forward to face the speaker, trying to seem as firm and authoritative as he can. "I beg to differ sir. These nekos are with me, so I suggest you look elsewhere."

The man's grin gets even wider. "How can they possibly be with you? They don't even have collars. Either you don't take very good care of your pets, or these two are unclaimed. I strongly believe that in this case it is the latter is true."

In total, there are roughly five men surrounding the three teenagers, each armed with a simple Swiss army knife. The one that had spoken was obviously the leader of the group as no one made a move toward the nekos until he suddenly rushed forward towards Allen.

One of the others went to move Lavi away from the action, but the other three were trying to trap Kanda on three sides, seeing as Allen was already in front of him and he couldn't move without pushing him towards their boss.

Kanda quickly analyzes the situation and sees only one way out of this situation. It is far from ideal, but it will have to do.

He picks up the Moyashi, slinging him over his shoulder and heads towards Lavi. The three men trying to corner him are joined by their leader and are forced to reform as Kanda rushes them before they can prepare to restrain him. When the man holding Lavi back realizes what is happening, he moves to cover Kanda's possible escape opening on his right, which is a small alley that eventually leads back to the road to the orphanage.

When he gets close enough to Lavi, he sets Allen down, but before he can get his bearings, he is shoved into Lavi who starts to head towards the orphanage, knowing that Kanda will try to follow. Lavi, though running, still has a slightly slower pace so that Kanda will have a chance to catch up seeing how all of the men are now concentrating on him.

One of them pulls a small syringe out of his pocket and using it like a throwing knife, releases it at Kanda. It hits its target dead on.

Kanda panics for a moment, but knows that the inevitable will happen. He turns back to Lavi and his Moyashi, seeing the fear in their eyes even as they slow down their retreat, nearly stopping. "Lavi, grab Allen and get him out of here! Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just get him out of here."

With one last look at his Moyashi, an attempt to burn his face permanently into his memory, Kanda then turns back to his attackers and uses what little strength he has left to try and run off in another direction, hopefully giving Lavi the time he needs to get them both to safety. However, he doesn't even make it a block before the drug he was injected with fully kicks in. The last image he has before he loses consciousness is the image of Allen's tear streaked faces as he tries to yell for Kanda.

….

Lavi hears Allen scream when Kanda hits the pavement, but he can't stop no matter how badly he wants to. All he wants to do is go back and defend is friend as best he can, but right now Allen is more of a concern seeing as he can't fight for himself yet and even though the men's attention might be on Kanda for the moment, it could change at any second and target Allen next.

He pulls his young friend along as fast as he can, hearing Allen cry for Kanda the entire time. And though Lavi wants to join in those cries, he has no choice but to be the one that moves them towards safety. It seems like an eternity before he reaches the slightly uneven front walk of the orphanage, but he doesn't stop until he is inside the building itself.

Hevlaska heard Allen's cries from the street and came down as soon as possible to find out what was happening. She sees Allen and Lavi and starts to look for Kanda but upon seeing Lavi's expression of loss and hearing Allen's sobs, she knows what has happened. She too wants to be able to do something or even to show even just a little of her own pain at this, but she has to stay strong for them. Eventually she tries to coax them out of the entryway, but by this point, neither have the strength nor the will to stand let alone move. So she does the next best thing. She helps lower them into some sort of sitting position on the floor.

Lavi starts staring off into space, his eyes open, revealing his mess of thoughts, but they see nothing through his pain at losing his best friend. Allen latches onto Hevlaska when she tries to move him and she pulls him close, letting him cry into her chest. His sobs eventually quiet but last long into the night even after Hevlaska has tried to clean him up as best she can, but she needed to let him be alone for a while. But by doing so she is letting him be in his room, the room he has been sharing with Kanda for the last several years.

What Allen and Lavi do not know yet, is that less than an hour before they came running in, a member of the Black Order had come by with a new addition for the orphanage.

While the Black Order Orphanage lost one neko child that night, another that is barely three years old has found a home there. A neko by the name of Timothy.


	4. Games of Chase

Chapter 3

For a while, time seemed to slow down to an agonizingly slow pace for Allen. His thoughts were constantly consumed by Kanda, and what could possibly be happening to him at that moment. Would he ever return? Would he still be the same Kanda, or would he have been forced to change into someone completely unrecognizable?

Hevlaska was also affected, but she tried her best not to show it in front of the children, especially Allen. It was getting harder as a sudden surplus of children were put under her care and her nerves were worn thinner than normal with the additional work and the fact that the eldest in her care was not willing or able to drag himself out of his room and his misery to lift a finger and help her. However, this all started to changed when the second young neko under her care, Timothy, took it upon himself to make Allen pay attention to him.

It started off slowly, just sitting in the same room as Allen or playing near him, making sure that Allen knew that Timothy was there even if they did not have direct contact. Eventually it came to the point that if Allen didn't pay him enough attention, he would start pulling on Allen's ears or tail until he could get a response. This would lead to crying and Timothy kept pushing the older to play with him and force Allen to pay attention to him in any way shape or form he could think of.

At first Allen just ignored his antics, but eventually they started to annoy him to no end. He tried moving to different spots to sulk, ignoring the kitten an all manner of ways to let the kitten know to leave him alone. It eventually got to the point when they would start fighting which would result in Timothy crying and Allen feeling guilty and thus begrudgingly spending time with him.

This became a bit of a habit for a while, until they were finally able to skip the fighting and most of the crying and just let Timothy have his way. And while Allen resented him for a while, he couldn't help but grow to love the jade-haired neko. He took it upon himself to try to raise the kitten the way that Kanda helped raise him, but one thing was different in that he only referred to Timothy by his given name, not something made up to annoy him. Though it was tempting some days, just to irritate the kitten and rile him up some more.

While Timothy was a good distraction for Allen, he did completely eliminate the thoughts of Kanda from Allen's mind. The not quite still a kitten was still mourning the loss of his friend in his own way. He let his hair grow out in the nearly two years since Kanda disappeared, it was now long enough that he pulled it back in a simple ponytail that reached down just past his shoulders. He uses the little red ribbon he had been found with as a tie to hold it in place. The ribbon being a reminder that it was Kanda who had found him and helped him become the person he was today. He also kept Timcanpy with him wherever he went as the little golem was not only a reminder, but also had a pleasant personality that seemed to know how to sooth some of his worries away. Timcanpy also was willing to help distract Timothy for a while if Allen needed some time to catch is breath or have a few moments to himself, even if Timothy would always grow bored in the end and seek out Allen's attention instead.

Allen seemed to have more attention to spare him as the nearly two years progressed. Lenalee and Komui ended up moving with their new family and while Allen would receive a very vague and repetitive letter every three or four months, but none of the envelopes had a return address so he could never send a reply back to them. Lavi was spending more and more time out of the country with Bookman, and while they still tried to teach Allen more about the outside world and more specifically, various forms of self defense for when he would leave the orphanage, they never stayed in town very long for it to make much of an influence. By this point it had been nearly six months without any contact from the redhead, and Allen was starting to feel a bit abandoned.

So instead of just sitting around and feeling bad about it, Allen decided to do something about it. He started to do his own research into the outside world. He read as much as he could on the past and current political system and its dealings with nekos, and just about anything with neko history that he could find, even if it was limited. He also took to trying to use and improve what he remembered and had learned from Lavi and Bookman for his physical training and self-defense. But despite all of that, he could only do so much for himself before he realized once again, just how much he still had to learn from the others.

…...….

Timothy was, as usual, feeling bored. It was just after dinner and Miss Hevlaska was in the kitchen cleaning up with the help of some of the older kids but when he poked his head in to try and find Allen, he didn't see him with the rest. He looked for Allen in all of his usual places but he wasn't in his room or hiding up in the maple tree out back. And he definitely wasn't in the bathroom seeing how he could hear a bunch of the girls in there, giggling at something or another.

He's getting a little anxious because usually when Allen disappears like this, without telling him, Allen usually ends up out with that redhead that stops by every now and again. But the annoying redhead hasn't been around for quite a while so why else would Allen disappear unless he's off moping about something again.

He heads off to look in Allen's room one more time, just in case they missed each other in passing. He decides that he should try to make this at least a little fun for himself, so he walks as quietly as he can down the hallway, cringing every time one of the floorboards decides to squeak when he steps on it. As he nears the end of the hallway where Allen's room is, he sees a sliver of light escaping from under the door, a sliver that wasn't there earlier.

As he reaches for the small brass knob, he sees something fluttering near the base of the door. Upon opening the door just a crack a flash of gold whizzes past his ear and starts circling him madly. His intentions to see Allen forgotten, Timothy quickly resumes his numerous, and so far fruitless adventures in trying to capture the elusive Timcanpy!

The little golem speeds off down the hallway making sure that Timothy is hot on its tail as it makes many sharp turns and guides the neko around furniture and other children in the process. Some of the other children squeal in protest or delight in seeing the antics, but most just go back to their business as this is becoming more and more of a common occurrence for the two.

Eventually their chase leads to the most challenging place of all for a good chase, the dinning room. The room is full with one giant old wood table with assorted and mismatched chairs surrounding it at semi-regular intervals. The difficult part is chasing the elusive golem as it speeds through the chairs and under the table. Timothy tries to head it off by diving under the table first thing. After the initial untangling of his legs and the chairs, he lies in wait for the golem to make the one wrong turn that will allow him to catch it once and for all.

Their game continues without Timothy making much progress despite his best efforts and his attention is starting to wander. One can only chase one little flying gold ball for so long before it starts to lose its thrill, especially if he never catches it in the end. He starts debating if he should climb out from under the table or not when another figure enters the room. This figure looks to be exhausted with dark smudges under his eyes and his hair partially out of its usual ponytail and in disarray. Timothy decides that he's going to try to sneak up on Allen and try to surprise him back to alertness, so long as the annoying gold golem doesn't do it first.

In the meantime, Timcanpy has quit their game and is currently perched on top of Allen's head, burrowing affectionately into his hair. The white haired neko doesn't seem to notice as he takes one more suspicious look around the room before he starts to turn to leave.

As Allen turns his back he hears a large crash from right behind him followed quickly by some brief sniffles and loud sobs. He turns to see Timothy tangled up head first in a chair that he appears to have tried to jump though its legs. Allen hurries over, all of his thoughts of the previous day gone, and takes care untangling the kitten and chair from each other.

By the time he finishes, Hevlaska comes running into the room trying to see what all of the commotion is about. "Allen, what happened here? I thought you were in your room after your training." Concern and confusion lacing her voice thickly, yet some relief is also evident now that she sees that everyone is alright.

"I was, but I couldn't find Timcanpy and I saw that the door was cracked open and figured that he went to go play with Timothy. I hadn't seen either of them for nearly an hour so I figured I should try to see where they ran off to, and I eventually found Timcanpy here. Apparently, Timothy decided to try to surprise me before I left, but he ended up running into a chair in the process." Allen picks up the still crying kitten and holds him close, letting him cry his tears on Allen's shoulder. "I'll go see if he needs to be patched up after all this. I guess it's kind of my fault that he ended up running into that chair, seeing how I was ignoring him and all, so it's the least I can do."

"All right. Just remember to not let him use this as an excuse to stay up late again. You remember what happened last time and you two still have lessons in the morning." She smiles fondly at her two charges. "Now get going so you can actually have time to sleep. After all, didn't Lavi say that he should be coming back sometime this week? I know you'll want to see him when he does." She scoots them out the door with small kisses to the tops of both of their heads in the process.

By the time Allen has Timothy sitting on the counter of the bathroom, just like Kanda used to do for him, the kitten's sobs have quieted and the tears have nearly stopped. He uses his thumbs to help rub away the remaining evidence and massage some of the redness away. Timothy's bright eyes stare up at him, still a bit watery from crying, but still bright nonetheless.

"I'm sorry. I just wanted you to play with me for a bit. But I guess I just wasn't paying enough attention to the things around me." Those bright eyes dim a bit as he lowers his head in shame for acting so childish.

Allen seems at a loss for a second. "Don't worry about it. I did the same thing when I was your age, so I suppose there's no reason why you shouldn't. Running into a chair like that might put a damper on that though." He chuckles quietly to himself on that one.

He carefully looks Timothy over, trying to find any damage that his collision with the chair might have caused. All he manages to find is a small scrape on Timothy's arm that was bleeding just enough to warrant some antiseptic and a small bandage. He looks through the mirror cabinet and pulls out the necessary items before sliding it back into place. Placing them on the opposite counter he briefly exits into the hallway and brings back a washcloth.

As he wets and wrings out the excess water, Timothy stares at him for a minute before blurting out "Why do your ears say folded to your head like that? I mean they don't perk up at all like mine do." He perks up his ears and moves them around for a bit to demonstrate.

Allen starts cleaning the area carefully and slowly as he searches for an answer. "I don't know, honestly. I wish I did, but I don't. I know that every other neko I've seen so far, granted that hasn't been very many, has ears that perk up like yours, but I've never seen them stay like mine after the first year or two of childhood. Maybe I'm just different, but I'm ok with that."

"So it doesn't bother you that you aren't normal? Wow, I don't think I'd be so cool with it. I like my ears just the way they are." He pauses in thought before continuing his random questions. "So if your ears are abnormal, does that mean your tail is too since it's all big and fluffy and mine is long and skinny?"

Allen stopped his hand that was applying the bandage before he starts laughing. Genuine laughter that's not held back by any of the weight he seems to be carrying around lately. He tries to calm his laughter has he responds. "You think my tail is weird too? I'm sorry to disappoint you but my tail is just as normal as yours. Just because you have a short-haired tail and I have a long-haired tail doesn't mean anything other than that's what at least one of our parents had. The fur length has to do with genetics just like everything else about us. Like how you have rounder eyes and mine are more almond shaped."

"I guess that makes sense. But how can you be my big brother if you look so different than me?"

That little statement makes Allen relax and scoop the kitten into a hug. "You think of me as a big brother? That's probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank you. I'll try to be the best big brother I can for you. Starting now."

He pulls the kitten tighter into the hug and starts tickling him relentlessly. As Timothy tries to squirm away, he ends up flipped upside down, laughing the whole time as the blood rushes to his head. Soon his laughter is able to down out the sound of rain that has started to pour against the orphanage.

In the midst of their giggle fest, there is the sound of the front door being banged open and hitting the wall beside it. There is a moment when the bang seems to resonate and intensify in complete silence. A voice breaks the silence, but it is too soft for Allen and Timothy to hear so they exit as quietly as they can and creep closer to the entryway, straining their ears to make out what is being said.

"I know it's here. It's slipped in here and out of my grasp too often for my liking. Whenever it ventures out it can be seen leaving from here and comes back here in the end. Where else would it be? Now, had it over quietly and we'll leave you in peace, otherwise I can't promise the safety of anyone who gets in our way." The voice is harsh and a bit raspy like the owner has spent too much of his youth smoking and it has ruined his voice. His breathing is harsh as well, but so are some of the other breaths coming from that room confirming that there is more than just that one man.

Hevlaska's voice rings strong despite the situation. "I'll say this once again, I have no idea what you are talking about. There are only children here, if you are looking for a 'it' you need to look elsewhere because you won't find one here."

Allen and Timothy have long since stopped their journey down the hall to hear what is going on from a safer distance. What they have failed to notice is a hooded figure behind them. The figure silently raises a small, modified handgun and brings it into position. He double-checks his aim before squeezing the trigger and letting the dart fly to its target.

The people in the front hall hear the shot. The man who has been speaking to Hevlaska lets an evil smirk fill his features. "I told you it was here, but you didn't want to help or keep yourself out of trouble. Your loss." With that, one of the other men catches her by surprise and is able to restrain her and the speaker and the other man head into the orphanage to find their prey.

Allen hears the shot and feels the small prick of pain almost simultaneously. His first thought is to hide and protect Timothy, but he knows that he won't be able to do that without Timothy being discovered and losing their one chance to run. He goes with his second thought and trying his best not to scream in pain, fear and anger, he races off down the hallway and into one of the empty bedrooms near the bathroom.

As he runs in, he can hear the man that has been following him be joined by two other, increasing his urgency. He quickly crosses the room and takes the inside screen out of the window as he opens it. The wind instantly roars into the new space, soaking everything it can reach. Allen quickly pries Timothy off of him and gently helps him out of the window and tells him to run despite the child not moving and inch.

Allen starts to lift himself out when he is grabbed by a pair of hands and pulled back in. He can't see who is holding him, but he lashes out, kicking the man in the head just hard enough for him to loosen his grip and let Allen fall. He hits his head on the bedframe and in that instant he feels something small bite his ear, but does not allow himself anytime to refocus before he is slipping past the other two men and through the building once again.

They follow him again, only now they begin to gain ground as he is still wet from the rain and doesn't have as good of traction on the wood floors. In his panic Allen races out to one of the only place he thinks won't be guarded, the door to the back yard. His spirits lift momentarily as he dashes out the door, racing past the window where Timothy was still waiting, somehow able to pick up the kitten in the process.

The kitten automatically latches on to him for dear life, and buries his head into Allen's chest, not daring to look behind them. As Allen reaches the eight-foot chain-link fence, he starts to feel a little dizzy and his vision seems to swim in front of him. But he doesn't let this stop him as he starts to climb as fast as he can without hurting Timothy or having his feet slip out from under him.

He is nearly half way to the top when another pair of hands grabs him and tries to pull him back. He holds on to the fence as best as he can, knowing that he can't move upward without being pulled back down, and that to just let go will mean being instantly caught with no hope of escape. His energy is fading quickly and it is becoming harder to keep his hold on the fence.

He feels one more strong yank on his waist and he loses his grip, as is fingers slip in the pouring rain. He tries to move to land on his side and try to hid Timothy from view for as long as possible, even if he can't do much else now. His landing is successful if painful and awkward. He lands on his arm, bending it at an extreme angel without breaking it and his half on top of Timothy's back without putting much pressure on him.

He can feel himself start to sink into the mud and the voices around him become disjointed. He feels someone pick him up and sling him over their shoulder like an old sack of potatoes. He can hear Timothy cry for him to wake up, but he is awake, yet he has no control over his body and the things around him seem out of focus. He hears one of the men asking about why he is still awake and another reply about using some drug that will drain his energy and confuse him for a certain period of time so they won't have to wait as long to move him as they would if he was unconscious.

As they move, he briefly makes out the halls of the orphanage passing by as the small group takes their leave. As they go through the entryway, he can see Hevlaska being restrained, but as soon as the man sees his group begin to leave, he abandons her in order to retreat. She looks up and sees Timothy and Allen and begins to scream for the men to stop and release them. She tries to follow them until one of the men not carrying him or Timothy puts a gun to Allen's head threatening to kill him if she follows them another step. She stops immediately, still crying and calling for them.

Allen loses focus again as he tears his eyes from the sight, and can feel the person holding him shift as they near the road. He is thrown into the very back of the car with Timothy right behind him. The last thing he coherently remembers is someone pulling a blindfold on him and binding his hands and feet. He hears the trunk of the car slam shut, and then, nothingness.

….

Lavi can't wait to see Allen again. It had been six months too long for them to be apart and Allen was desperate for any news of Kanda. But at least the new little neko boy had taken a liking to him and was making him live again.

Maybe, just maybe, the news that Lavi was bringing him, that they had found the men who had kidnapped Kanda and that they were being put on trial with in the week, would help Allen to recover just a little more. Besides, he liked working and training a happy Allen then a depressed one.

As he nears the orphanage he sees a nondescript black SUV speed past him, nearly hitting him in the process. He mumbles something about bad drivers and hurries on his way when he sees Hevlaska kneeling on the sidewalk in the pouring rain.

"Miss Hevlaska? Why are you out here in this? Did something happen?"

She looks up at him with tears blending with the rain. Her voice is barely above a whisper. "They took them. They took Allen and Timothy. I tried to stop them, but I couldn't . . ." Her voice trails off as her sobs increase.

Lavi gently takes her by the hand and leads her inside. He sets her in one of the chairs near the entryway before speaking again. "You remember when Yuu gave Allen Timcanpy? Well that little golem has a tracking system in him, so as long as it's with Allen, we can find him anywhere. I have one of the handhelds that we can find him with when we turn Timcanpy on. I'm going to do it now, because the sooner we find him, the better."

He turns on the tracker, giving it a moment to calibrate before staring confusedly at the screen. He continues looking at the screen as he makes his way through the house, eventually ending up in the room that Allen had tried to escape through the window.

The window is still open and blowing the rain into the room, continually resoaking everything in its path. A slight rattling sound can be heard from inside of a music box that was blown over and around in the wind. Lavi picks up the box and opens it as Timcanpy shoots out of it and starts circling the room before leaving to search the building for Allen.

Lavi gives a defeated sigh as he returns to the front where Hevlaska is still sitting. He sits on the floor beside her for a moment. "It didn't work. Timcanpy didn't make it out with Allen so we have no way to track him for now, unless . . . Did Allen . . . Did he . . . Did he reach . . . maturity yet?"

Hevlaska just stares at the floor shaking her head. "Not yet. I've never seen a neko go so long without reaching maturity yet, and it worries me a bit. It basically means that either he'll never reach that point, or that he is just a time bomb that could reach that point at anytime, I can only hope that he'll be in a safe place when it does. Why does it matter though?"

"Because I did find that Timcanpy was able to get a DNA sample from Allen and when Allen reaches maturity his cells will change along with the ones being stored in Timcanpy and that change will allow us to track him afterwards."


	5. Confusion

Chapter 4

For the longest time, all Allen can feel is how uncomfortable his own position is in the back of the car, roughly where Timothy is pressed against him, and the seemingly never ending motion of the car. Occasionally he could tell the change of direction when he was forcefully slid around the back by the g-forces as the car would turn a corner too fast or stop too suddenly.

The adrenaline rush he had received while trying to escape had long since dissipated leaving him feeling weak and tired, but his panic keeps him awake, but not completely alert. The drugs in his system have kept him from being completely coherent, but he can feel them slowly losing strength and allowing the situation to sink in even more.

He wants so badly to be able to see for himself exactly what was going on, but the blindfold prevents him from doing so. He tries to reach for Timothy to comfort the shaking kitten as best as he can, but with his hands and feet bound, the best he can to is slightly intertwine their tails to reassure the other of others presence. They stay like that as long as they can before they would be jostled around again and have to tentatively find one another again.

Eventually the vehicle began to slow down and eventually it comes to a complete stop. Something unclear is shouted just outside of the vehicle and the sound of the back door being lifted up almost seems to doom Allen and Timothy to their fates. The cool air of wherever they are creeps over them spiking their fear adding to their already nervous shaking.

Allen feels Timothy being lifted out first, and after a moment, a pair of hands reaches out to pick him up as well. The second he feels them touch him, he tries to lash out, hissing his discontent, as words seem too inadequate for the situation. A second pair of hands reaches out to hold him still and he succeeds in biting one of them.

"The damn cat bit me!"

Allen is backhanded where he lay, the sting is almost satisfying, but nothing compared to what he wants to do to his captors. He hears Timothy start to cry for him and it pulls at his heart that he is unable to stop them himself, but the cries are quickly silenced as whoever is holding him leaves the immediate area, his retreating footsteps wounding Allen just a little more.

As someone approaches Allen again, he tries to lash out, but this time more hands struggle to hold him as another quickly inserts a needle into his arm. Even though the metal intrusion is brief, the thought of what they might be doing to him, angers Allen even more, causing him to struggle for as long as he can. They continue to hold him until he starts to calm down and they are sure that this new round of drugs will subdue him enough to have him not fight back.

When he has finally calmed down, someone reaches down and none to gently, throws Allen over his shoulder and walks away from the vehicle and the others. However, the walk is short and Allen can hear a fairly heavy door open and the man walks on. They are inside now as the sound of the man's footsteps have changed just enough so that have a slight echo, and the gently hum of lights can be heard.

The footsteps seem to last forever until Allen hears another door open and shut behind them as the man walks through it. He is abruptly shifted off of the man's shoulder and placed more gently on a startlingly cold metal table. Seeing as he can't move all that well, he simply lies where he landed, hoping that nothing worse will happen for the time being.

The door opens again and he can sense another person entering the room and staring intently at him. He want's to hide, but the most he can do is twitch his tail in irritation. The new person begins muttering to himself and starts poke and prod Allen, making him want to fidget more especially the further south the hands traveled, but by the time they had reached his knees he did calm down a little, but not much. It eventually ends when the person pokes at the pads of his feet and after a few seconds, removes the bindings on his feet.

The person that undid the bindings talks quietly with the first man that brought Allen into the room. There is a moment when the clanking of coins is overheard and there is another moment of silence before one of them leaves the room. There is more silence and the one left behind gently goes back to the table and lifts Allen up and holds him bridal style before exiting the room and heading down another hall.

The walk is very short and they soon enter another room. This one is quite warm and smells strongly of chemicals that assault and burn Allen's nose. There seems to be more people in this room and something is apparently said to them, as two sets of hands lift Allen out of the man's arms, and move further into the room.

Soon, the bindings on his hands are removed, but he still remains blindfolded. He is placed on the ground and hands start grabbing him, and removing his clothing despite all of his weak, but urgent attempts to stop them. He can't even tell who or what is grabbing him as all of their hands seem to be covered with some type of rubber or latex gloves. It doesn't take long before the fabric is completely removed, he can feel several gazes scrutinize every aspect of him. He strongly desires just to melt into the floor to hide himself from those gazes.

But he receives no such luck as he is picked up again and is moved closer to one of the main sources of the chemical smells. They carefully lower him into a large hot bath, and the hands waste no time in dousing him in soaps and shampoos, rubbing his skin hard enough to make it glow a faint red with irritation. While the hot water and the motion of the hands do help some to relax Allen's nerves, it also seems to make the drugs stronger, so that even though they had seemed to start wearing off, they still retained their hold over him.

After the thorough scrubbing, Allen is lifted out of the tub and immediately wrapped in oversized fluffy towels search for any water that might have the gull to remain clinging to him. Finally, he is left with a single towel tied securely around his waist and is placed in a chair while someone starts to meticulously brush out his long hair and another carefully brushes his tail. By the time all of the tangles have been undone and nothing but the silky lengths remain, his tail is released and another set of hands gently holds his head as another picks up the hair, cutting it off at chin length.

A breath catches in Allen's throat as he silently mourns the reason for his long hair. He remembers Kanda talking about wanting to grow his hair out as they got older, and how Hevlaska would make sure that never happened. He also realizes that Kanda most likely had to go through the exact same thing he is going through now. The thought almost makes it a little more bearable, knowing that Kanda didn't have to go through something too horrifying after his initial capture, or so Allen hopes.

After the person who cut his hair finishes evening out the lengths and trimming any missed hairs, yet another person comes and this time they start messing with his ears. The person tries to get them to stand up like they would on a normal neko, but all of their attempts fail and the person seems to realize that it is not just nerves that are keeping them as folded as they are, though Allen's nerves are obviously not helping them perk up any. Eventually, the person disappears for a moment before coming back and placing something on either side of Allen's left ear. There is a tense moment for Allen, but it is quickly replaced by a sharp pain as a small needle is pushed through the outer edge of the tip of his ear and is quickly replaced by another small needle that is clasped shut leaving a small metal hoop in his ear.

Allen moans a little in pain as his ear starts to throb, but the people around him seem not to notice as he is shuffled off again. This time he can feel hands pulling and pushing him into a pair of pants and shirt. The shirt seems far too big and the collar is threatening to fall over his shoulders and he is having a hard time freeing his hands from the sleeves. The pants at least fit, though it proves to be difficult to put on seeing as they have a tail hole that is made for a much skinnier, less fluffy tail, but somehow Allen makes it fit in his rush to be clothed again.

After he is dressed, a pair of hands helps him to stand. He is a bit wobbly from the remaining drugs, but at least he can finally stand on his own again without assistance, instead of having to be carried everywhere. Someone grabs his right hand and ties something on it, it feels like the same texture and softness of Allen's ribbon, and he is glad to be allowed to have at least some part of his past remain with him.

Someone gently takes his hand and leads him out of the room. This time they are in yet a different hallway, as Allen cannot hear their footsteps through the thick carpet blanketing the floor. The walk only lasts for about 10 steps before they stop for a moment and there is the sound of a door sliding back and they proceed into the room.

Allen's blindfold is finally removed and he is stunned by what he sees. He is in a very plush office, with a rather oversized wooden desk and even a small fireplace in the corner. Despite these things, there is hardly anything personal in there apart from a nameplate on the desk. The office belongs to someone who refers to themself as the Millennium Earl. As he takes this in, the oversized chair behind the desk swings around to allow its occupant to see Allen.

Some type of instinct tells Allen that he needs to run. But at the same time, curiosity and the pull of the man's eyes keep Allen in place. The rather hefty man pulls himself out of the chair and makes his way over to inspect Allen. His eyes scrutinize every detail and Allen can't help but lower his eyes to the floor, hoping that his man will be more merciful than he seems.

The man finally ceases his immediate scrutiny of Allen and turns back to the person who brought Allen in the room. Allen follows his line of sight and is a little surprised by what he finds. He can tell that it is a person, but other than that, all distinguishing features are covered by some type of white covering with seemingly random placements of pentacles. The person makes no noise but hands a file to this 'Millennium Earl' and promptly leaves the room, leaving the two alone.

The Earl takes a moment to look over the file. A few times he shows some surprise with what he finds, but otherwise he is expressionless. Eventually he sets the file on his desk and pushes a button. The door to the hall opens and another of the pentacle-covered people enters and waits for further instructions.

"Take this one back to the kitten he arrived with, for today. Tomorrow, we'll have his arm tattooed to cover up that birthmark and help improve his value. After that you'll move him in with the others so they can help him adjust and by the end of the week, I want his complete profile available to potential buyers. Dismissed."

The person takes Allen's arm and steers him out of the room without a word. The two travel down a series of halls that make Allen's head spin with his lost sense of direction. Eventually after what seems like an antagonizingly long time, they reach one of many plain metal doors with no remarkable feature besides a number 14 over it. The person uses a pass and code to open the door, gives Allen a light shove into the room and promptly closes the door.

Before he can get his bearings, he is suddenly grabbed around the middle as Timothy holds him tight and starts crying. Allen carefully lowers himself to the floor and brings Timothy closer for a better hug and the two remain there for over an hour just trying to process everything that has happened to them in just a single day while seeking comfort at the same time.

Eventually, the weight of their experiences pushes Timothy over the edge and into an uneasy sleep. Allen wishes to follow, but takes this opportunity to look over the room and finds only an oversized pillow and a single blanket in one corner. He gently picks up Timothy and brings him over to the pillow. Allen brings Timothy to his chest in hope that the kitten will be able to stay warm despite how thin the blanket seems to be.

Allen contemplates if he should stay up for Timothy to wake up so that they can actually talk before they are separated again, but the weight of sleep seems much more inviting. Before he can give in, Allen unties his ribbon, and ties it securely on Timothy's wrist so that the kitten will have something to remember him by.

….

Allen's sleep is abruptly interrupted when he felt himself being picked up by a pair of the pentacle people. He is ushered out of the room before he can do or say anything resembling a proper goodbye to Timothy, but when he sees the kitten still asleep, he doesn't have the heart to wake him.

He is brought through the twisting hallways until they reach a fairly small room with no door. Allen is brought in and placed in a chair, his feet and hands being secured so he can't try to escape. The two pentacle people leave the room and Allen takes a moment to find that except for the chair he's in, there is one movable stool, and a row of ink jars in his immediate view. He remembers the Earl's instructions for today, and dread seeps through his entire being.

After a couple more minutes of panicked waiting, another person covered in pentacles enters the room, and seems to pay Allen no mind as it goes about preparing for its work. It quickly wipes Allen's entire left arm in some kind of strong scented antiseptic before it grabs the required needles and ink. It seems to contemplate for a moment where to start, but it seems to just pick a spot near his shoulder to begin.

The pain, while not as sharp as the ear piercing, was still constant and wearing on Allen's nerves. He tries to block it out, to think of other things, or even allow himself to pass out for a few minutes, but nothing works. He is forced to endure the pain for hours. His head feels dizzy with the scent of the ink and the metallic scent of his own blood.

By the time his hand is freed to continue the tattoo, Allen doesn't even have the resolve to fight back. He simply lets his limp arm be handled and scratched at with the needle. The person even goes as far as to do something to Allen's fingernails that makes them as black as the rest of his arm. The pain continues for hours and Allen can't even tell when the person has finished the inking and has applied some type of gel to his arm, before finally wrapping the entire arm in hand with bandages and leaving the room.

It takes Allen a few minutes to realize what has happened, but his pain-filled thoughts are soon distracted as a new pentacle person comes and undoes the rest of Allen's bindings. This time Allen doesn't even try to pay attention to how far they go or how many turns they take.

Allen doesn't even notice when they stop, but suddenly he is pushed into a room and the door is shut behind him. The room in of itself is fairly basic, completely white walls that match the completely white clothing of its inhabitants, small clusters of clear plastic chairs and tables, a small open area by a TV, a snack area, and finally a simple door leading into a bathroom. The room is fairly simple, but it is the occupants that stand out. Eight male nekos ranging from about Allen's age and older are going about their business, but stop when they see the new comer.

Most go back to whatever they were doing before, but one of the younger ones approaches him. This one has dark brown, nearly black hair and his demeanor initially reminds Allen of Kanda, but the two look completely different. This stranger takes a moment to look Allen over before presenting him with a rather large smile.

"You're Allen, aren't you? Kanda mentioned you a lot and you look just like his description. You even have the droopy ears." The stranger stops for a second, seeing how confused Allen is. "Oh, I'm Alma. Alma Karma. Kanda and I were here together for a while before we were sent to different homes."

"Yo You've seen Kanda? How long? How long ago was it? Have you also seen Timothy? He's still a kitten, hardly five years old and we were separated this morning. Did he come through here?" Allen's voice betrays his panic and fear at everything that has happened, and what is to come.

Alma thinks for a second. "I'll tell you what I know, but you might want to sit down for a bit, if they did what I think they did to your arm. It'll be best to just not use it much for a day or two." He takes Allen's right hand and guides him over to an empty corner of the room.

"Now I haven't heard anything about this Timothy kid, but if he's as young as you say he is, he's probably over in the other section with the females and other kittens. With him that would make about ten kittens and probably only six women left over there. But then again, most of those females are the mothers, so they probably won't be separated for a few years and they'll most likely accept little Timothy with open arms." A bit of Allen's fear leaves when he finally let it sink in that Timothy should be safe for now.

"As for Kanda, I can't really say what's happened to him. He came through here about two years ago madder than a hornet, doing everything he could think of to escape, but it didn't work. It was a bit crowded at that time, so we ended up sharing a room and getting to know each other. But you really don't need to know all that. Anyway, he was here for about two months before he was sold off, and I was gone the next day, so I can't really say what happened to him other than that he was apparently sent back here once, but was sold again within a week. Not really enough time to say what happened to him really. And he hasn't been back since, so either he's still with that person, or he's somehow left the country." Seeing Allen's fading look, Alma sighs before scratching one of Allen's ears. "I know he's all right. This is Kanda after all."

Allen is silent for a moment and Alma tries to think of something to distract him. An idea occurs to him and he quickly pulls Allen up and heads for the only not completely white wall in the room. Upon closer inspection the wall reveals that it is covered completely in hundreds, if not thousands of names. Alma looks closely for a second before pulling Allen over to a spot near the base of the wall. It's there that he points out Kanda's name.

"Every neko that comes through here puts their name on this wall so that no one can forget them, nor deny their existence." Alma pulls out a black marker from somewhere. "It's time for you to add your name. I think that Kanda would want your name to be by his."

Allen reaches out a tentative hand to take the marker and carefully writes his name under Kanda's. "Umm, Allen? You need to put your last name on there too, otherwise there could be a hundred Allen's out there and no one would know who you are."

"But I don't have a last name. I didn't think I needed one."

"Believe it or not, you're not the first to say that. So that means that your last name is now Walker. You see, one of the first nekos in this building was Mana Walker; he was the only one here who never left for any period of time. He stayed and did what he could to comfort those who had been taken from their families, and those who had been picked off the streets. He did all he could for us, and claimed all of us who didn't have a family. That's why those with no last name share his, its our way of helping him pass on his legacy seeing as he did before he was ever able to have kittens with anyone."

"So I can really use that name?"

"Of course, I just explained that."

"Just checking." Allen goes back and carefully adds the last name to his own.

Allen Walker has entered the world with a new name and a goal, to find Timothy and Kanda.


	6. Revelations

Chapter 5

The next couple of days progress rather slowly for Allen. Each day he is put back in the white room with all of the other male nekos, and at night he is taken back to the room he and Timothy briefly shared. Initially, he thought that he would be somehow be moved elsewhere for potential buyers to come and see him, but Alma explained that Allen had come in on a Tuesday, and it was only on Friday through Sunday that people were allowed to come and see them in person. While this sounds much better than what he originally thought, it only slightly alleviates some of Allen's fears.

It's over the course of the next few days that Alma attempts to take Allen under his wing a bit and explain more of the nekos' history, as well as what was happening to them now, with all of the new human laws. For Allen, some of his questions are finally being answered even if they are not necessarily the answers he wanted to hear, for most of the reasons that led human to think that they are superior seem to be quite superficial, and not accurate at all. But he also realizes that there is little he will be able to do about that in his current position.

Later on the same Thursday, Allen finally gets up the courage to ask Alma something that had been bothering him for a while. "Alma? Why do you have that mark on the bridge of your nose? It doesn't look like a scar, cut, or tattoo, but it's still there."

Alma gives Allen a look of disbelief. "That's my Mark, Allen. Everyone gets one eventually. Why, by your age you should have one as well."

Allen feels very confused at this. "As far as I know I don't have one. Why am I supposed to have one? Is it bad if I don't?"

Alma sighs. "I honestly never thought I'd have to have this conversation with someone nearly my own age. Prospective kittens, yes, but not you. Hmm . . .What's the best way to say this? Umm . . . Have you had your first heat yet?"

There is a pause as Allen thinks for a moment. "I don't think so. Is having a 'heat' important?"

Alma stops for a second before running off and grabbing one of the older males in the room and dragging him over to their corner. This new male is slightly taller than average with spiky blond hair that hides his ears a bit, he also has a fairly fluffy tail like Allen. Even though he looks fairly young, Allen can tell that he must actually be much older and experienced than his looks would betray. As this new neko approaches Allen, he reaches out his had for a handshake and Allen tentatively reciprocates it.

"So you must be the new one. Allen Walker, correct? You can call me Reever. So what seems to be the problem here, boys?

Before Allen can respond, Alma blurts out, "Allen hasn't had his first heat yet."

"Alma, that's not something you talk about in pub – Wait. Did you just say that Allen hasn't had his first heat yet? That can't be right. Allen is this true?" When he nods his head, Reever starts to think for a moment, his brows furrowing in concentration, before crossing over to the door and knocking on it. The door opens a crack and he quickly and quietly says something and the door is closed again.

He makes his way back over to the boys and looks directly at Allen. "I'm trying to get permission to use one of the medical offices here. You're about 16ish right? Well if you haven't had your first heat yet, it could mean that there is something wrong internally, and I just wan to be sure that everything's in order." Seeing Allen's concerned look, he adds on, "Don't worry about it. You're probably a late bloomer is all. And don't worry about the exam, I'll be giving it personally since I've been trained specifically how the treat nekos since our biological systems are just a bit different from a human."

The three head to the door, which is immediately opened for them. The second they are our of the room, a small collar is placed on each of the nekos and they then follow one of the pentacle people, which Alma has said are called Akuma, through the maze. After several minutes of walking, they end up in a very clean, well-kept doctors office. The Akuma closes the door and locks it as soon as the three have their collars removed and have all been corralled in the room.

Reever immediately has Allen sit on the exam table, and Alma move off to one of the corners, out of the way. The exam is fairly standard and doesn't take very long as Allen seems to be perfectly healthy. However, something makes Reever stop when he goes to examine Allen's abdomen. He feels gently around Allen's stomach, but when he pokes just a little lower, he feels something he doesn't expect. He feels the same spot again, only this time Allen accidently lets slip a pained grunt.

He steps back and quickly removes the gloves he had been wearing. After Allen fixes his shirt back into place, he looks at Reever expectantly. The blond seems to be having a serious internal debate with himself but resigns himself with a sigh.

"Well there's good news and not quite bad, but not quite good news. The good news is that you are perfectly healthy and seem likely to stay that way for quite a while. The good, but not as good news is that there is a reason you haven't had you heat yet, and while this is actually normal, it's also a cause for future concern.

"You see Allen; it seems that you're a very rare type of neko. There have been others in the past, and I've even met a couple before you, but they are still very rare. You are what we call a Bearer. Basically it means that you have the potential of being able to bear kittens in the future. Now you haven't had your first heat yet because you are maturing at a slightly slower rate because you body has more to accommodate than most. But from everything I can tell, you'll probably have it sometime in the next few months, just so you know."

"How . . . How is this even possible? I'm a guy; I can't have kittens like that. As far as I know, I don't even have the right parts for that! Could it be something, anything else?" Allen is trying to calm his nerves, but the prospects scare him beyond belief.

"Well there have always been a few male nekos that could have kittens. Never more than a handful in existence at a time, but they've been there. They're part of the reason that humans started kidnapping us in the first place. They wanted to see if science would let certain human males be able to do the same thing. They have never succeeded, but in their attempts, many Bearers died so to find one such as you will cause quite a stir.

"I can't tell you if this is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, they'll probably do all that they can to make sure that your healthy and comfortable, but beyond that, I can't say much. But on the other, they may try to put you in the Breeding Program the others I met were in. I'm not going to butter this up, if you get sent there, you are in some serious shit.

"I could just not let the Earl know any of my findings, but if something happens that exposes you, that wouldn't end well on either of our parts. I guess I'll just have to submit the paperwork for the exam and hope he overlooks it. He probably won't, but there's always the chance."

Allen is silent for several minutes; only his small shaking frame betrays the emotions running through him. "But what if I don't want this?"

"There's nothing we can do. This is just the way you are. You'll have to learn to live with it. Just don't worry about it too much, ok?" When Allen gives a slight nod, Reever picks up his paperwork and heads to the door once more with the other two behind him.

Upon being put in their collars once again, Reever follows one Akuma presumably to give the Earl his report, and Allen and Alma follow another back to the communal white room. Neither of them speaks a single word as they walked through the twisting hallways, but at some point, Alma grabbed Allen's hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

The tension flowed off of Allen and his demeanor immediately lightens despite what he was just told. He is already coming to grips about what he had been told, and since there was nothing he could do about it, he decided to just accept it and move on.

….

To say that the Earl is interested in what Reever had found would be an understatement. All of his other business priorities are swept aside as he tried to figure out exactly what he is going to do with the gold mine that had just landed in his lap. Precautions would have to be taken, but in the long run, this could turn out to be a most promising venture.

His first thoughts are to see if he can get in touch with the Breeding Program to see if they would be interested in using this new Bearer for their purposes, with certain limitations of course. A quick call later and an appointment is scheduled for the next day for someone from the Program to come and make sure the information is correct.

If the information proves to be correct, then they will work on the fine details like registering the neko as a Bearer and such. The most important being that until the Bearer is bought by someone else, it will be living somewhere outside of the facility, but under close watch and guard. Those things would be taken care of immediately, but as to where for the neko to live for now would be another issue.

The Earl wants to keep him close, but still out of the pubic eye, at least for a while. The best option would be to bring the neko into his own home, but he already has one neko at his own home, and to bring in another, even if it is only temporary, could lead to more problems and fights than he wanted or needed to deal with.

After debating for a while, there seems to really be only one other option. The Earl picks up his phone once more and punches in a memorized number without even looking. The phone rings a couple of times before a cheery voice answers. The two exchange pleasantries for a few minutes, but eventually the conversation returns to business.

"Sheryl, I was wondering if you would be willing to do me a favor for a little while. Don't worry about Road. I'm sure she'll be just as willing to help out too.

….

The following morning, Allen woke up just in time to be brought to the white room. However, when the door to his room is opened, he is greeted not just by an Akuma, but by also by a rather tall blond woman in a lab coat. The woman looks at him for a second before turning and walking off without a word. The Akuma steer Allen after her and he does his best to keep up with her rather long stride.

In the end, they end up in a doctor's office, much like the one that Allen was in the previous day; only this one seems to have a few more large pieces of equipment at its disposal. The woman wastes no time in taking Allen's measurements and writing them down. Following that is an exam that is even faster that the previous day's, she has him remove his shirt and proceeds to cover his lower stomach in a freezing cold gel. Allen tries not to show his discomfort, especially when she takes a piece of machinery and starts rubbing it around in the gel, pressing against stomach to get a better image on the ultrasound machine.

After a few minutes of this and staring at a screen, she wipes the remaining gel off of his stomach and actually faces him for the first time. "Do you know why you were called here today?" Allen gives a small shake of his head. "The Breeding Program was given notice of a potential Bearer at this facility, and it is my job to make sure that this call wasn't another hoax or desperate attempt for publicity.

"My name is Dr. Lulubell, and until for now I will be the one providing you with all your medical needs until you have reached maturity and can be transferred over to Breeding Programs facility for further use. If you have any questions feel free to ask either the Millennium Earl or myself. For now you will remain at this facility until some more suitable arrangements can be made. You will be of great use to us and to your own kind, Allen Walker. Take heart in that."

With that she left the room and an Akuma comes for Allen. This time it put a different collar on Allen, one that had a small tracking device on the side, and closes more securely. The walk to the white room seemed endless as Allen tried to absorb what had just happened, but in reality he couldn't even wrap his mind around it. He didn't even notice when he is gently pushed into the room and has the door close behind him, the collar still in place.

He is hardly aware of Alma approaching him and steering him over to their normal corner. Alma situates him so that Allen can lean on him, and Allen does so without any realization of what he's doing. Eventually his staring and thinking allows him to finally break down and soon Alma's shoulder is being cried on as all the stress and pain from the last several days comes crashing down on him.

Eventually, his tears start to dry up, and he is able to drift off into an uneasy sleep. Alma continues holding him, wondering if Kanda knew all of what was going on with this kitten. Did he know about him being a Bearer? Or was his desire to protect Allen something that could only be described as instinct? Either way, the chances of the two of them meeting again seem to become slimmer and slimmer as more and more unknowns come into light.

….

Allen stays sleeping gently on Alma's shoulder until it is time to head back to his room. He isn't completely coherent when the Akuma come to escort them back to their rooms, but he does notices when he is suddenly picked up by an Akuma and carried out of the room. He doesn't struggle for fear of what the Akuma might do to him, but he starts to silently shake again and his ears flatten across his head as much as possible.

When the Akuma opens his door and proceeds into the room, Allen can tell that there have been some changes since this morning. Once the Akuma has left, he takes a better look at his new surroundings. Gone is the giant pillow he's been using as a bed, a real pallet with better stuffing is in its place. The thin blanket has been replaced with a set of sheets and a thicker blanket more than twice the size of the original one. The tile floors have been given a layer of plush rugs over top to take away from the cold they emit. While the overall comfort they provide is welcome, the reason for why they were brought in in the first place is still overwhelming to him.

He doesn't get much sleep that night with all of the unfamiliar surroundings, and the fear of what the following day will bring. He's gotten an idea of what will happen while his is being 'shown off' from Alma, but he still fears the experience.

Supposedly, he will be put in a small room away from the others. The room itself will have just a few things in it with him: a pillow/bed and possibly some blocks or stuffed animal since he's still technically a kitten. There will be two doors. One will open in to the hallway, and the other will lead into a communal bathroom, but only one neko is allowed in there at a time, unless it's an emergency. There will be cameras in the room, so that if someone has interest in him, they can show them more than just his profile. Other than that, the room is the same blank white as their normal room, and just like every other day, he'll have to stay there until an Akuma comes to take him back to his room after a quick shower.

His lack of sleep doesn't help his sense of time, but when an Akuma comes for him, he can tell that it is much earlier than normal. He is lead down through the maze and is a little surprised when they end up back in the same doctors office he was in yesterday. Inside are the Earl and Lulubell, the both look rather excited about something, but for now, Allen can't tell what that something is. He is guided back to the exam table, but remains sitting up.

Lulubell comes over and after making Allen remove his shirt, carefully starts peeling off the bandages covering his new tattoo. It is slow going as some of the skin is still sensitive, but there is immediate relief when the skin finally meets the air again. The hardest part of the unraveling was when they try to unwrap his hand. The pieces are so intertwined that they eventually give up and start cutting the bandages to free his hands.

When all of the bandages are off, Lulubell gives his arm a quick look over to make sure that it is working properly and not damaged during the tattooing process. After deeming it healthy, Allen is placed in front of a full-length mirror to see for himself, what has changed. The arm is completely black until about six inches before his shoulder. There it has two black rings, then a series of open circles with closed diamond like structures at the ends.

The Earl comes up and gently holds Allen's shoulder, looking it over carefully. "They really did a good job with this one. And the integration of the Stigmas like that is quite ingenious. This way, people will always know that he came from here." He gives Allen a 'reassuring' squeeze on the shoulder before exiting the room.

After the Earl leaves, Lulubell soon follows after him, leaving Allen alone in the room. Just a minute or two later another Akuma enters, but this one carries a tray with it. It sets the tray and its contents before Allen before taking its leave.

On the tray is a simple, but very healthful breakfast. A piece of toast, an egg, and some bacon decorate the plate, and a tall glass of orange juice as well as a fresh banana remains on the sides. After contemplating if he could eat it or not, Allen makes quick work of consuming every crumb from the plate.

He contemplates for a few minutes just what he is supposed to do with the tray, but he decides that maybe going to the door and asking would be better. When he knocks on the door he is greeted by two Akuma. One takes the tray and disappears down the hall, and the other motions for Allen to exit the room. When he does so the Akuma turns around and begins leading him away from the doctors office.

The walk doesn't seem quite as long this time, but then Allen doesn't know exactly where he is being taken. The hall soon ends with a rather large center room surrounded by doors directly across from it. Allen is taken around to the other side of the hall and is gently pushed into this new room 14.

The room is everything Alma described it as, only one difference, there is a blanket on the bed. He looks around the room and is amused at finding a rather large golden ball sitting in the corner. It looked a bit like Timcanpy; it too has wings, but no tail, feet or horns. Allen looks at it for a moment before he hugs it close to him, glad for even a little familiarity.

He takes the winged ball and makes his way over to the bed. Once there he folds himself into a ball, fear and dread seeping through him as he is conflicted as to whether or not he really wants to be bought to a home or not. Eventually, exhaustion and rampant emotions lead him to quietly cry himself to sleep, squeezing the golden ball even closer to himself in the process.

….

Sheryl couldn't decide if helping the Earl is a good idea or not. On one hand, bringing home a neko for Road is defiantly a good idea, seeing as how she's wanted one for a long time, and it would make a suitable companion for her when he was gone for business. The problem would be when they had to let the neko return to the Black Arc if someone else was willing to pay for it, or if it was to be shipped off to the Breeding Program. Seeing as how that could happen at any time, he didn't want Road to become attached to it, only to have to lose it later.

It is thoughts like these that plague him as he makes his way into the Black Arc. He is greeted by an Akuma at the door and promptly led to see the Earl. As always the office was as impressive as it was bare. However, there is a slight difference this time. There is now a framed piece of paper directly above the Earl's chair. The paper explains how the Earl has a Bearer under his watch and how a portion of any success that comes from the Breeding Program will be directed back to him, hopefully for more success in the future.

The Earl turns his seat around and gestures for Sheryl to take the seat across from him. Once seated, an Akuma comes in holding an open laptop and sets it in front of Sheryl. The man looks confused for a moment before taking a closer look at the screen. A room is displayed, obviously small, but comfortable enough for a small length of time. In that room, just barley discernable, is a figure under a rather large blanket. He repositions the camera to get a better look at the occupant. What greets his eyes is a small sleeping neko holding a stuffed animal. And while the picture is adorable, he doesn't quite understand how this is important to him.

"Quite magnificent, isn't he? This one goes by the name Allen Walker. He's the one I was hoping you would watch for me. I wanted to bring him to my own home, but I doubt that he and my own neko would get along very well. So what do you say? Will you take him in for me, on a temporary basis?"

Sheryl is torn for a few minutes, thinking about what Road would like, and what is unavoidable. The picture of this Allen sleeping so peacefully is what finally seals the deal. "I accept. Road will be so happy to have a new playmate."


	7. Advice and Shopping

Chapter 6

For Allen, the following Saturday and Sunday are very repetitive. It is the same both days: wake up, eat whatever they give you, go and sit in the other room numbered 14 for the rest of the day. There is no interaction with any of the others, just solitude and the occasional Akuma.

However, when the monotony of the weekend ends and Monday finally comes around, everything changes.

He is sleeping semi-peacefully when the Akuma come into his room. Instead of one, there are three this time and they are accompanied by Lulubell. She says and does nothing as they carefully pick up the still groggy Allen and remove him from the room. They head off down through the maze of hallways until they reach the white room. Once inside, they release Allen and move to join a few other Akuma that have gathered along the walls.

Allen wonders sleepily over to his usual corner and is a little surprised to find that Alma is already there, conversing with a neko he has never seen before. For the most part, this new comer seems quite normal, long brown wavy hair with matching ears and tail, and a pale skin tone, but the thing that throws Allen off the most about this particular neko is that it is female.

He is fairly surprised to see a female neko as they are usually kept in another portion of the building with the kittens so he hasn't seen one since he was kidnapped, which make him all the more curious about her. He tires to not be too obvious in his observations of her, but he does sit close enough to her and Alma to do so without looking too suspicious.

Alma notices him as he sits and gives him a look of grim amusement. "So, it looks like I was right. I knew you wouldn't be here for long considering what you are. Know where they're sending you yet?"

"They're sending me somewhere? I haven't heard anything." Fear starts to taint Allen's curiosity, causing a nervous uncertainty to resurface yet again.

"Yeah, todays Monday remember? That means that if we were sold sometime over the weekend, we are officially bought today. That's why we're here so early, that's why we actually get to be near some of the girls right now." He sees the growing concern on Allen's face. "Oh, before I forget, Allen this is Miranda, Miranda this is Allen. He's the one I was telling you about."

She finally looks at Allen, giving a faint smile despite how tired the dark bags under her eyes betray that she is. "It's an honor to actually meet you Allen. You've caused quite a stir for both the humans and the nekos. I'm sure you're getting sick of hearing this, but you really are a rarity and that gives us some hope, no matter how twisted that hope might be. You have our support and our grief as well."

"How can I bring you hope, and what do you mean that it's twisted?"

She looks thoughtful for a moment. "I'll try to phrase this the best I can, but I'm sure that you've already heard most of this, so please be patient." She takes a deep breath. "You know that nekos have always been small in numbers, right? Well that's partially because we don't have very many kittens. Like our ancient feline ancestors, we tend to carry large litters, but normally only one or two will survive the birthing process. This also limits how many kittens we can have overall, so most couples only have two or three kittens maximum survive to adulthood, which accounts for our smaller population growth.

"However, when nekos started to interact more with humans, there were a few humans and nekos that fell in love and left to have lives together. But there is a problem with this, no matter how hard they try, humans and nekos cannot successfully have kittens together. A few have been able to start litters, but either they all died before birth or they died within their first week of life because they were to frail to survive. This is part of what led to the decline of our numbers.

"I don't know if you know this Allen, but at the height of our numbers, we numbered in the low hundreds of thousands, but now our numbers have decreased into just a few hundred at best, and that's world wide. With our current situation with the humans we are exposed to more things that impede pregnancies, and have lower rates of couples being able to stay together indefinitely like they should, which leads to few kittens. That's why you are so important.

"Bearers have always existed, but never that many at once. What makes you special Allen is not just that you are able to carry litters despite being male, but that Bearers have a much higher rate of carrying a full litter to term and having them all survive to adulthood. Also, you are able to have more litters than most, which greatly helps our numbers.

"However, the humans have noticed this and have been trying to take advantage of this, but there is one main flaw for them. Like humans, we mate for life, and for Bearers, there is only one they will ever successfully mate with and humans seem to think that it all has to do with genetics instead of what is meant to be. This leads to problems for both the Bearer and the other neko involved if the humans do not like that pairing for some reason or another despite them being meant to be together.

Another part of the problem is that if we were still able to live outside of the humans, it would be several years after the Bearer has matured that he and his mate would produce kittens, but now as soon as they find a Bearer and he reaches maturity, they immediately try to mate him to produce kittens as soon as possible. As a result, the Bearers body is not fully matured enough to carry that many litters so soon and more often than not, it becomes too much and frequently the Bearer will die very young because of too much strain forced on their still developing bodies in such a short amount of time.

"Part of the reason that they try to mate Bearers so quickly is that a Bearer can only be born from another Bearer. That is part of the reason that their numbers are so few, but most Bearers will never carry another Bearer, maybe one if they are lucky, but never anymore. Humans want the Bearers to produce more Bearers as fast as possible to help increase the neko population as a whole, but more so to insure that there will be more Bearers for them to research on. Something they can't do because of how many they 'accidently' killed, and because of how few of you are left.

"I know that this is a lot to take in, but do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?" Miranda's wide eyes search Allen hopefully, looking for any sign that she is understood.

Allen wrinkles his brow in concentration as he tires to process what he has just heard and how it is connected to what he has already heard. Try as he might, he can't quite figure out what she is trying to tell him besides some facts that he knew most of before. He looks up at her, trying to make his apology visible in his eyes. "I'm sorry, but I really don't know what you're trying to say."

Miranda looks panicked as she tries to think of how to rephrase everything, but is saved by Alma jumping in. "What she's trying to say, is that female nekos have a hard time being pregnant and so they don't have very many kittens. But for them, having kittens is a natural occurrence so it doesn't put as much strain on their bodies. However, for Bearers like you, you are more likely to be able to be pregnant with a full litter and have them all survive, but since you are a guy, it is more of an unnatural occurrence, and because of that there is more strain on your body.

"The reason that humans are so interested in Bearers is because they are rare, and because the more kittens a Bearer can birth, the less they have to worry and enforce that neko couples have to be allowed to stay together to worry about making more kittens. The problem is that they don't seem to understand that by forcing you to have so many litters in rapid succession, they increase the strain on your body to the point where it gives out, and in a worse case scenario, it kills you.

"However, you at least, are safe for a little while longer. Since you haven't had your first heat yet, they can't really do anything with you as far as finding a mate for you, so your body will have more time to develop, which means a higher survival rate for you. The problem comes when you actually do have your first heat and they try to find your mate on their own and without you being too involved in the process outside of a physical relationship. That typically does not end well for any one concerned when that. When that happens, then you can panic." He stops to take a deep breath. "Now, does that make more sense?"

"Yes, actually it does." He looks back to Miranda. "How do you now all of this?"

She gives him a small smile. "Oh that one's easy. I used to help watch a younger Bearer kitten back when I was still a kitten myself."

She doesn't get to say anything else because the door has opened once again; only this time the Millennium Earl enters the room. "Alright, my sweet little kitties, you are the lucky few who managed to be bought over the weekend. Now, you will each be escorted out of here and taken to your new owners who are waiting for you." He surveys the room once again and notices how the nekos have clustered themselves close to Allen, almost as if daring someone to try and take him. "Now, stay right were you are, and wait for the Akuma to collect you. Good luck, and try to behave for your new owners, little kitties." With that he leaves the room with one last lingering look at Allen.

Lulubell is quick to make her way through the nekos and over to Allen. She gently takes his arm, and pulls him away from Miranda and Alma. He tries to turn back to say goodbye, but their Akuma escorts already surround them, effectively hiding them from view. As he tries to get one last glimpse of his new friends, he is whisked out the door and down through the twisting hallways.

In very little time they happen to arrive in a hallway that Allen actually recognizes. The plush carpet is a dead give away as it leads them to the Earl's office. Upon entering, Allen is surprised to find that there is already someone sitting in the chair opposite the Earl's, the figures turns to face the new arrivals when he hears the door open. He is dressed in business attire with a simple pair of black pants and crisp white shirt, which blend nicely with his slightly ashen skin tone and black hair. His hair is pulled back in a loose ponytail, but a few strands have escaped to frame his face. But the most surprising aspect of this man is his bright golden eyes, such a stark contrast with Allen's silvery ones. He gives a soft smile to Allen, to try and reassure him that everything will be alright.

The man stands and inclines his slightly, signaling the start of introductions. "You must be the famed Allen Walker. I've heard that there are some pretty high expectations on you right now, which is why you are going to be living with my daughter and me for the time being." Seeing that Allen is starting to look confused and scared, he tries to clarify. "My name is Sheryl Camelot, and as a favor to my dear daughter Road's grandfather, the Millennium Earl, I shall be taking you into my home and will care for you until more suitable arrangements can be made."

He stares at Allen, waiting for a replay that never comes. Eventually he sighs, "I'm not your master, Allen. And while I expect you to treat my daughter and me as though we are your masters, we will be a little more forgiving for a lapse in memory. This isn't meant to be a permanent situation, as soon as you've matured you'll be either with another master or at the Breeding Program." He can tell that Allen is still uneasy about all of this. "I'd take advantage of this if I were you Allen. For the time being you are being guaranteed a home and we'll do our best to take care of you. Whether or not you choose to accept this offer isn't a factor. You will be coming with me, and that's that." His tone is slightly annoyed by Allen's lack of response at this, but at the same time he figures it must be nerves that are holding the neko's tongue.

Sheryl shifts uncomfortably for a moment before speaking again. "Now, all the paperwork has already been filled out and turned in, so all that's left is some final details." He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a bight red something. "If you're going to be living with my Road, then we need to make you look a little more presentable. Starting with this." He goes and removes Allen's black collar, and replaces it with a thinner bright red one. He also carefully takes out Allen's earing and replaces it with a slightly heavier one that intensely heats up for a second before rapidly cooling off.

He steps back for a second, observing the small changes. "The collar is a definite improvement, not as large and clunky as the only one, but then this one doesn't have a tracking chip in it, the new earing has it instead. Now before you even think of just taking the earing off and escaping, if you try to remove it, it will superheat and will burn you. The only people who can remove it are the ones that have their fingerprints programed in, otherwise that thing does not come out. Understand?"

Allen slowly nods his head; his head still reeling from how restrictive this will be on his already forming escape plans. He pauses his thoughts for a moment to clarify one thing. "When do we leave?"

Sheryl gives a confident smile. "We'll be leaving now, but we won't be heading to my home right away." Allen looks confused for a moment. "We'll be doing some shopping first to find some more suitable clothes for you to wear. After all, I can already tell that Road is just going to love playing dress up with you."

….

For Allen, leaving the Black Arc wasn't all that exciting. It consisted mainly of following Sheryl through the maze of hallways, being ushered into the backseat of a new BMW, and leaving for who knows where. He did have some hopes of seeing where he is headed, but quickly discovered that windows he could see out of were tinted both inside and out so he couldn't see anything. He also discovered that he couldn't open either of the backdoors, thus ensuring that he is stuck back there. This made the journey far less interesting as time seemed to slow to a crawl without any interaction or change of scenery.

Arriving at the shopping center did bring about one surprise. When the door to the back is opened for Allen to come out, Sheryl is not alone. Another man stands by him staring intently at Allen. This man is rather tall and proportionally broad, or at least much taller than Sheryl, but with the same dark hair, bright golden eyes, and ashen skin tone. He wears a simple pair of black jeans and a plain dark blue short-sleeved shirt.

"Allen, this is Skin Bolic. He will be your bodyguard for whenever you are out in public. The two of you might not necessarily get along, but you'll just have to live with the idea of working with each other. And just because you might not be able to see him, doesn't mean that he's not there. Just remember that." And with that Sheryl turns and heads into the shopping center.

It turns out that the shopping center is really more of an outdoor mall. There are some large expanses of cloth to keep out some of the sun and provide some relief from the heat as it radiates off of the ceramic tile floor. The mall is divided into more expensive stores on one side and less expensive stores on the other. For most of the mall, these two parts don't mix too much, a clear sign of the division of social classes, but there are places like the food court, restaurants, and the occasional sitting area that connects the two fairly peacefully.

For the most part, shopping is very boring for Allen. He has a long leash attached to his collar as soon as they enter the mall, making his cheeks redden with embarrassment, and humiliating him to no end. He is also given an oversized gray hoodie to wear and told to keep up the hood and cover his ears as much as possible. While this does annoy him, he tries not to show it because he doesn't want to cause a scene.

Throughout the morning he is led to many of the higher-class stores where at each one he is measured and forced to try on pile after pile of various types of clothes. He tries on so many that he soon loses count and starts to pray for an end. Shopping is more work than he remembers, and he never thought that he'd be so grateful to hear that Sheryl wants to stop to grab something to drink before continuing the shopping spree.

He is thoroughly excited to head to the food court to feed his roaring stomach, and is pleasantly surprised when Sheryl opts to eat in one of the more quiet restaurants. However, he is a little disappointed when he sees Sheryl eating a full meal consisting of a thick hamburger, salad, and large soft drink, when he is left with a large glass of milk. He is grateful for something, but he is still hungry, and Sheryl doesn't seem to notice him eyeing his full plate.

Eventually, Sheryl decides that he's had enough and heads out of the restaurant and back to more shopping, much to Allen's chagrin. As they leave and travel through the rest of the food court to get back to the main area of the mall, Allen is still musing over his empty stomach. And during this musing Allen catches a glimpse of something dark red out of the corner of his eye. He turns to make a double take to make sure his eyes aren't deceiving him.

All he can see is the man's back, but the color is so close . . . he mentally urges the man to turn, just to make sure that his mind isn't playing tricks on him. A moment later, it's almost as if the man hears his mental pleading, as he turns and looks vaguely in Allen's direction. The bright green eyes, and knowing gaze confirm his identity.

"Lavi . . ." His voice is barely above a whisper, as if uttering the name will somehow change what he is seeing. When nothing does change, he stops walking and watches as Lavi looks confused, like he is missing something important, but eventually turns and heads back towards the food court.

Allen stakes a tentative step towards Lavi's retreating figure, having a brief mental struggle to accept that he is truly there, before breaking out at a full out sprint towards his friend. He feels the moment that the leash is torn out of Sheryl's hand, and when his hood flies back with his speed, but he doesn't care about that, or the fact that Sheryl is calling after him. Allen starts yelling Lavi's name at the retreating figure, desperate to get his attention.

Everything seems to move in slow motion as the redhead turns around just in time to see Allen's smile fade away has he stumbles as an electric shock attacks him from his collar, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Lavi goes into autopilot and starts to make his way to Allen, a smile bursting across his face at the sight of his found friend. But before he can get too close, Skin appears from seemingly nowhere, and picks up Allen, slings him over his shoulder, and heads back towards Sheryl.

Allen tries to resist as best he can, but his mind is still reeling from the sudden shock, but he is coherent to look up and see Lavi still trying to make his way to him, calling his name in return. A crowd has gathered to see the spectacle, which is impeding him, but he is doing his best to get to him despite all of the obstacles. Allen continues to cry out his name, reaching out his hand as if he can close the distance and grab Lavi's hand. Tears are spilling down his cheeks as his friend grows smaller and smaller in his line of sight.

….

For Lavi, he is trying to do everything he can to resist the gathering crowd to rescue his friend. He dodges and twisting around the suddenly crowded food court, calling out to his formally missing friend. He can see Allen being dragged further and further away, his hand reaching out for him, and the sight breaks his heart.

He couldn't believe it when he thought he heard Allen's voice. It had been more than a week since the young neko went missing, and they couldn't find any leads as to his whereabouts. So for him to be here of all places would be hard to believe. He turned to see if it was just his imagination or not, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary besides some poor nekos being led around on leashes. When he can't see anyone that resembles Allen, he turns back to go find some lunch.

He starts to move when he hears it again, Allen's voice. Only this time it sounds too real, to solid to be a figment of his imagination. He turns back one last time to see something he never thought he'd see again: one of his best friends running towards him, relief and desperation written across his features. Those emotions are quickly replaced by surprise and pain as he slips and falls to the ground. Lavi sees this and starts to run to his friend, for he sees a large man making his way purposefully towards Allen, as if he is going to catch him and separate them again. Lavi calls out Allen's name, trying to reassure him that he is coming and will rescue him.

Lavi begins to struggle to catch up to Allen, a crowd has gathered having heard their shouting and feeling obligated to come and see what the commotion is all about. They don't seem to notice or care that they are in his way, nor do they even try or care enough to get out of his way.

The man catches Allen and slings him over his shoulder like a misbehaving child, not seeming to be bothered by the gathering crowd. He is imposing enough that people quickly get out of his way and he is able to make faster progress away from Lavi than Lavi can make moving towards him.

Even at their current distance, Lavi can see Allen's tears and wishes to be able to nothing more than stop those tears and hold him close like he used to do when Allen was still a tiny kitten. When Allen reaches his hand out for Lavi, Lavi automatically does the same for Allen, even though the crowd is becoming even thicker and the distance between them quickly becomes so great that they can no longer see one another.

Once he finally makes it out of the food court, the crowds are fairly sparse, seeing as most of the mall's customers migrated to see what all of the commotion is about. He looks about searching for any sign of Allen or the man that took him, but he can't find any clues. He takes off in a random direction desperately keeping his eyes peeled for his friend.

A mall that would normally take him several hours to walk through, is completely seen in nearly aspect in just over ten minutes. Despite all of his efforts, he still can't find a single trace of Allen. It's almost like he managed vanished into thin air.

Lavi stops and sighs for a moment, accepting the inevitable, and letting the rush of emotions run their course. From the frustration of nearly having his friend back, the grief of losing him all over again, and the uneasy nervousness of how he's going to break the news of this discover to the others. Tears of stress threaten to break through his emotional barriers, but he refuses to let them show. He can allow himself to mourn the loss again, but no one will ever know how badly beside himself.

….

Allen starts to cry more heavily and loudly when Lavi is finally out of sight. His desperation and anguish at the situation becoming more and more evident. People stop to stare and a mummer of rumors can be heard as people watch him be taken away by Skin. Eventually he feels another shock from his collar, this one is more centered on his vocal cords, and suddenly his voice is forced to leave him. Despite this, he still cries silently as he is dragged further and further away from his friend.

As soon as they exit the food court, Skin takes them down the most immediate employee service hallway and makes his way to where Sheryl is waiting for them. Even though he can't see his current caretaker, Allen can still feel the negative emotions running off of him.

"I don't know what that was back there, and I don't care. You have embarrassed not only yourself, but by association, the House of Noah as well! Don't think that you will escape from this unscathed." He pauses for a second, trying to relieve a bit of the anger in his voice. "I'll deal with you when we get home. But for now, you are not to make sound or move that I don't approve of. If you don't, your punishment will only increase."

And with that, Sheryl tries to make his face as blank as possible, despite his brow still furrowing a bit in anger, he turns and sets off through the service hallways towards the parking lot. Everyone present could already tell that it is going to be a very long ride home.


	8. A Temporary Home

Chapter 7

The car ride back really is long, both figuratively and literally. No words are spoken, only the hum of the engine and the sounds of passing cars break the silence. Allen can tell when they leave the city, the sounds of other traffic dies down, and he can feel the car accelerate as the speed limit increases. The hum of the motor is louder in the tense silence that envelops the vehicle.

Thoughts of what is to come swirl constantly and erratically through Allen's mind. Sheryl mentioned some type of punishment, what will it be, and how bad will it be? And what about this mysterious person named Road who supposedly owns him now? What will become of him? Of Timothy? Will either of them ever be free again, or are they just more victims to this relentless cycle?

So many questions whose answers are about to become clear as the car slows down, and Allen assumes that they have reached their destination. Soon he can see Sheryl and Skin exit the front of the car and one of them makes their way over to open one of the doors to the back to let him out. What greets his eyes is like nothing he could have ever imagined.

He knew just by Sheryl's appearance that he must be fairly successful, but he didn't expect him to be quite this successful. A veritable mansion stands before him, with a drive that extends back as far has he can see. The building itself is made of what appears to be a light tan marble with large picture windows, and various shrubs, bushes, and trees frame its four stories, making it look quite picturesque.

Skin gently grabs his arm and starts dragging him towards the mansion. The inside seems just as grand as the outside, but Allen has little time to take in the details, as Skin doesn't stop in the entryway for Sheryl to deal with Allen. Instead, he travels down one hallway off to the left and after about two right turns later, stops in front of a set of double doors. Pausing for a moment to knock, Skin shifts for a moment as if trying to straighten out his clothes.

The door bursts open and a girl dressed in a common maid outfit steps out. She takes one look at Allen before squealing and tackling him in a hug. Skin releases his hold and instructs the maid, "Master Sheryl would like him clean and presentable for when Mistress Road returns home. I'll leave him in your capable hands. Just remember not to hurt him too much." And with that he turns and leaves Allen alone with the maid still hanging off of his neck.

She is quick to grab his wrist and drag him through the doors, making sure to lock them. The room they are now in is like a rather large sitting area like space with a large comfortable looking couch, a few filled bookcases, and a chair on one corner with a lamp for late night reading. It looks like somewhere Allen wouldn't mind spending some time in, but the maid seems to have other ideas as she leads him down a smaller hallway that divides the room, and stops between two doors.

She leads him through the door on the right, which turns out to be a rather large bathroom. Inside are five maids who stop their respective jobs to turn to see who the new comer is. When they lay eyes on Allen more squealing ensues and this time they bury him as they all come to hug and play with him at the same time. Soon he can't even be fully distinguished as a single entity as they start to fawn over him and play with his ears and tail.

Eventually they manage to strip him of all clothes without his noticing, and move their fangirling mass over to the large in floor tub. There they carefully ease him in and while three of them are still fawning, the other two retreat into a large walk-in closet that occupies a corner of the bathroom. There they sift through all of the soap, shampoo, etc. until they find just what they are looking for.

When they return they waste no time diving back into the fray of cleaning Allen. Allen tries to voice his complaints and tries to request that they please back off and give him some space, that that there are some things he can do on his own, like clean himself! But not matter what he says or does; they don't give him a single chance to wiggle out of their grasps.

Somehow with all of the cuddling and cooing, Allen manages to find himself completely dry and wearing a new set of clothes as the maids have him cornered and pinned down in a chair near a vanity. Though how and when he arrived there is still a mystery. His back is to the mirror as two of the maids are busy playing with his hair and ears while another is attempting to brush out his tail, and the others are attempting to trim his almost short claw length finger and toe nails.

Just the thought of what they are doing to him, let alone all of the touching of all of these women, is enough to put him on edge. And while he does appreciate some more cheerful company than the cloud of doom that is currently Sheryl, this is a bit extreme, even for him. Between not wanting people touching his ears and tail, and having so many women trying to cuddle him, he is more than ready to bolt out of the room, even if he does have to face Sheryl's wrath for it.

As he starts to put the final touches on his escape plan and get into position, he notices someone putting a pair of socks followed by a pair of sneakers on his feet. While this wasn't in his plan, especially since he really hates anything covering his feet if he can help it, he does decide that the extra traction could be of some use.

He tenses, trying to reposition himself for a better launch angle and distance when the door flies open. A teenage girl is standing there looking like Christmas has come in July. Her bright golden eyes lighting up when they see Allen, her cheeks taking on a extra shade of pink under her ashen skin tone, and her bright blue hair even seems to bounce happily as she races to him.

She doesn't say a word as she runs up to him. The maids quickly back off and bow their heads in respect. The girl stops and looks over Allen carefully for a moment before she carefully picks him up and hugs him close. Her cool breath tingles across his neck as she breaths out, "You're mine, Allen Walker. My new doll."

To say that the girl's words spook Allen would be an understatement. He wants to say something back about how he can't be owned by anyone, but there is something in her icy smile that promises excruciating pain for any disobedience or contradiction. That is something that he desperately wishes to avoid, especially if since he doesn't plan on staying there very long.

He feels himself freeze in place despite her taking his wrist and dragging him through the mansion. She babbles on about 'all the fun they are going to have' and how happy she is to have him, but Allen doesn't pay her too much attention. He is too busy trying to not freak out after her underlying threat, and is trying to see if there is anyway at all that he can escape the nightmare he sees heading his way.

….

After his first day at the mansion, life becomes fairly routine for Allen. He wakes up early so that Road can play with him before she heads off to school, then he goes and spends the rest of his day in his small section of rooms and throughout the day someone will leave a meal or snack for him. When Road gets home from school, he is let out of his room and is required to spend as much time with her as she wants, and since she can't seem to get enough of him, they spend quite a bit of time together. After Road is sent off to bed, Allen is returned to his rooms, and after a quick bath, he too is off to bed to do the same thing again the next day.

Though his days do seem to be monotonous, there are always a few things to make life more interesting. For instance, every two to three weeks Lulubell comes by to see how Allen is doing and if he's matured yet or not. She does a physical with each visit, just to make sure that Allen's being properly taken care of and healthy. She does give him some news as to whether or not the Earl has found a new home for him or not, and how the Breeding Program is searching for his possible mate for after he has matured. So far there has been no success with either cause, but she still tells him, all the same, as though she is trying to give him something to look forward to.

The only other times when things aren't monotonous is when Road's uncle comes to visit. Her uncle, Tyki Mikk, is an unusual person to say the least, he travels frequently and always comes back telling her all sorts of tales of his adventures, as well as a souvenir or two for her amusement. He occasionally brings stuff back for Allen as well, figuring that he might want to partake in the occasion as well. However, for Allen, the best part about Tyki coming to visit is not the stuff he brings with him, but the fact that he usually stays for several days and always makes sure to let Allen outside or explore the mansion, anything to make sure that he doesn't have to stay in his room all day while Road is away.

For Allen, Tyki is really the only person he can count as a friend, in his current situation. Sheryl is simply the one who's house Allen is staying in, and a person to be avoided if at all possible. Skin is Allen's bodyguard for whenever he is outside or wanders too close to a door leading outside when he is alone. Then there is Road. Road is unique in that she treats Allen nicely most of the time, but when she gets mad, Allen's mental stability becomes even more unstable, and she has on rare occasion, become violent, but those occasions have all been reprimanded by Lulubell, seeing as Allen is so special and all.

But Tyki is different. He treats Allen, not as a pet or dumb animal, but as someone who has thoughts and feelings and just happens to live with his bother and niece. He inadvertently gives Allen something that he's been longing for since being kidnapped, a sense of being an equal. Not a neko or a Bearer, but a person. And while Allen enjoys this feeling, it only comes around when Tyki lets it be, never before.

This cycle of monotony mixed with a bit of adventure is steady for the next five months. However, all good things eventually meet an end.

….

As usual Allen wakes up early to be ready for Road, still a bit tired from the day before when she had them go hunting for lightning bugs the night before. She had them stay out extra late, just so that she could hold one and collect enough in a jar for her to watch all night after she was supposed to have gone to bed. He had fun at first, but eventually he had gotten tired, wanting to just go inside and sleep, but he had to stay out as long as Road did, simply because she wanted him too.

He sighs as he thinks about everything he'll have to do for her today, and figures that he would much rather stay in bed all day if he could. He feels a little off, sort of like he's coming down with a cold or something, but nothing too bad. He tries to shake it off by standing and stretching a bit, but he finds that that type of actions lead to him feeling nauseous, so he quickly lays back down.

After a few minutes he can feel a fever coming on, and knows that today is going to be a stay in bed type of day. He knows that Road will come looking for him if he doesn't find her soon, but with the way he's feeling, he decides to risk it and stay in bed. He hopes that she'll go easy on him since he's sick, but he isn't going to hold out on that notion.

Sure enough, not five minutes later, Road can be heard making her way through the first door into Allen's rooms. She calls his name in a teasing manner, as though he's purposefully hiding from her for a type of game. When she doesn't get a response, she makes her way into Allen's room, not bothering to knock first.

When she finds Allen still in bed, she tries to be very quiet before pouncing on him, giggling the whole time. "I found you. Come on lazy bones; let's go get some breakfast before I have to leave. If we have some time, I want to play with your hair too. I think it would look cute pinned back a bit." When Allen doesn't respond she throws off his covers and grabs his wrist. "Whoa, you're really hot. Are you sick or something?" She feels his cheeks and forehead for a moment. "I'll go get Daddy, he'll know what to do."

Once she leaves the room, Allen can't help but feel some relief. His fever has escalated in the last few minutes and his limbs are starting to feel like lead when he tries to move them. All he wants is some peace and quiet, and probably some sleep too.

To him, it feels like only mere moments before he hears Road and Sheryl rushing back into his room. Road is asking if he'll be alright, and about what's wrong with him. Sheryl is trying to reassure her that he's sure that everything is alright, just a minor bug or something that she shouldn't worry about. When they enter his room, Allen doesn't even bother to open his eyes to see if they are alone, it's too much effort.

He hears someone kneel on the floor, probably Sheryl, guessing by the sound of rustling suit jacket material. That person puts a hand on Allen's forehead for a moment before taking one of his wrists and feeling for a change in pulse. Next, he gently pulls back one of Allen's eyelids, exposing the dilated pupils, the darkening gray, and unfocused gaze. Allen can practically hear Sheryl's brow furrow for a moment.

He stands up again before speaking to Road, but making sure that Allen can hear too. "It looks like he's sick today, honey. I'm going to go call Doctor Lulubell just to make sure that it's nothing serious. Now come on, breakfast is waiting and you still have to go to school today."

"But can't I stay home to take care of Allen?" Allen can practically see and feel the kicked puppy face she is giving Sheryl. It's a face that Allen knows that he can never hope to stand up to, but he hopes that Sheryl has had practice becoming immune to it.

"I'm sorry, honey, but school comes before pets. Now let's get going. Who knows, after Doctor Lulubell visits, he might be just fine when you get home later today. How does that sound?"

"Ok, but he better be better when I get home."

Sheryl laughs as they leave. "We'll see, Road, we'll see."

….

The morning progresses slowly for Allen. After Road leaves for school and Sheryl for work, he really doesn't feel like moving and his fever just keeps getting worse. He's already left the covers pulled back and has purposefully removed all of his clothes and thrown them to unknown areas of the room except his boxers, but it doesn't seem to help. He rolls onto his stomach, attempting to burry his head under the cool side of the pillow.

He lies there, panting softly with the heat and wishing for the sleep that seems to elude him. Lulubell still hasn't come, so he knows that at least for a little while, he won't be able to have any relief via any sort of medication. But that does give him some encouragement to wait it out until she comes, if only so that he can feel better later.

He is only slightly surprised when he hears his door open, but is surprised when it's not Lulubell's voice that fills the room. "Shouen, I heard you got left alone again. Well don't worry; I'm here to make sure you get out and about for the day." He comes over and gently nudges Allen. "You feeling ok? Wow, you're really hot." He too checks Allen's cheeks and forehead; only he leans closer in case Allen has anything to say. When he doesn't he clears his throat. "No offence, but you're kind of panting like a bitch in heat right now. Need me to get you some water, or something, anything else?"

When he doesn't get a response, he gently shakes Allen, trying to get a response. When Allen finally opens his eyes. "There you are, sleeping it off today? I don't blame you, you look like a mess. Besides, did Road douse you with some type of perfume before she left today? You kind of smell funny, not bad, just off. Now, since no one else is here, I'm going to try my best to take care of you."

With that he leaves Allen for a moment before returning with a glass of water for the ailing neko. He sits on Allen's bed and gently picks up Allen and slides him into his lap, holding his head up and raising the glass to his lips, encouraging him to drink. After the neko has drunk his fill, Tyki sets the glass on the nightstand and continues to hold Allen.

After a few minutes, Tyki's body heat becomes too much for Allen, while feeling him holding him makes his skin dance with delight despite the heat, the heat itself is screaming to be released and to find something to cool him off. He wiggles a bit, trying to give Tyki and obvious hint to what he wants, but the Portuguese man refuses to let go.

Allen looks up at him, a little surprised when Tyki is already looking directly at him, but is surprised even more by Tyki's eyes. His eyes have dilated slightly and they have very strong lustful gaze boring down on Allen. "Tyki, you can let me go now. It's kind of hot for cuddling, don't you think?" When Tyki does nothing but continue to stare at him, Allen tries again. "Tyki let go of me. Please. Let go of me now!"

Tyki's eyes flutter for a second, but he surprises Allen even more when he slowly lowers his head to capture Allen's lips in his own. Allen stops for a second not knowing what to do, and not being in a very good position to pull away as one of Tyki's hands is holding his head in place. Tyki tries to deepen the kiss by rubbing his tongue against Allen's closed lips, asking for entrance. When Allen denies him, he backs off slightly before smashing their mouths together, causing Allen to gasp in surprise, and at the same time, giving Tyki the access he desires.

He takes his time allowing his tongue to swirl around Allen's and to feel every crevice and detail that the neko's mouth has to offer, from the strangely textured tongue to the small fangs. He pulls back slightly, breaking for a moment of air before diving back into the younger's mouth. With Allen still not responding, he tries nipping at his lips and engaging his tongue for a battle of dominance, but the younger refuses to budge or join in the games.

As he tries even more to entice Allen into playing as well, he slowly and carefully slips one of his hands up to play with one of Allen's exposed nipples. The younger involuntarily gasps at the trails left by Tyki's hands, feeling them burn and freeze at the same time. He wants more of those feelings; they help distract him from the heat.

Tyki notices his reaction and takes advantage of this by making a point to use his fingers that are not currently occupied with playing with the younger's nipple to trace random patterns and designs on the surrounding skin. He continues with this even after he has switched to the other nipple, leaving the first one pert and hard. He makes a mental note that the flushed pink of the nipple and the blush on Allen's cheeks match perfectly.

Too soon for his liking both nipples no longer need the attention of his fingers, so he trails them lower, still tracing the random patterns and designs. He mouth lower at the same time, taking his time to find a sensitive spot on Allen's collarbone. He sucks, licks, and gently bites the spot until it signs a deep red and will surely leave a mark for days to come. He gives the spot a few more gentle kisses and licks before continuing further south.

Allen's mind is in a fog as Tyki continues his ministrations. Confused and conflicted about what is happening. All he can really understand is that Tyki is distracting him from the heat, even if it is in a somewhat unconventional way. He almost wants to beg Tyki for more, but when he opens his mouth, he feels Tyki's hands move below the elastic for his boxers.

That one motion snaps everything into perspective for Allen. He doesn't want this. He doesn't want the heat either, but he definitely can't let Tyki do anything else. He pulls together what little strength he has and tries once again to push Tyki away. He tries calling Tyki's name, trying to push at his chest to release him, even trying pulling his hair to move his head back, but Allen just doesn't have the strength for Tyki to notice his resistance.

His attempts become even more desperate as he feels Tyki's hand run over his member. Even more pleasurable sensations join his adrenalin rush and he can feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment. When the hand takes a firmer hold and starts gently stroking him, trying to coax him to the point of release, he can't stop the moan that escapes his mouth.

The older seems to take this as encouragement and soon two hands are working the neko's member, bringing it to full erectness, much to the distain of its owner. It becomes nearly impossible for Allen to stop the moans and mewls of pleasure that try desperately to be heard. He is still trying to get away form Tyki, but what little strength he had before is leaving and his attempts are becoming weaker and weaker. Tears of frustration start to fall, but he does nothing to stop them.

Suddenly, Tyki stands and flips Allen over so that he is on his stomach once again. The neko looks at the older and almost wishes he hadn't. Tyki is busy removing his own pants and boxers, freeing his full erection from its confines. He gives a small smile of relief as the cool air embraces his need, but his quick to go back to his earlier mission, Allen.

Allen watches him come closer again and in his last burst of strength he can muster, rolls himself off the bed just as Tyki makes to grab him. He lands on the floor with a thud and his shoulder protests as it takes the brunt of the impact. Allen pays it no mind as he attempts to crawl his way to the door.

He can't even pull himself onto his knees before Tyki crosses the room to lock the door and returns to grab him from behind. Instead of moving Allen back onto the bed, Tyki pushes him back to the floor, taking care to whisk Allen's boxers off in the process. His mouth latches on to the back of Allen's neck as one of his hands begins to probe around Allen's entrance.

The tears flow freely from Allen as his fear starts to take a more solid hold on the situation. He really doesn't want this, but without any strength to move, he can't so anything to stop him. He can feel when a finger is shoved roughly into his behind and he doesn't even try to hide his pain, hoping against hope that his cry will pull Tyki back into reality.

His wishes remain unfulfilled as two more fingers are roughly inserted at once. His cries swiftly become yells and shouts of pain and distress, but still the older pays them no mind. The fingers move, stretching him in ways he didn't think possible, and the pain that accompanies it surpasses any other feelings.

Allen gives a silent sigh of relief when the fingers suddenly disappear, but his shouts return with a vengeance with something much larger is forced inside of him. Tyki's member is far more painful than the fingers were, and he doesn't allow for Allen to adjust before thrusting with vigor.

The young neko feels like he is being split apart from the inside out. The pain travels down his spin causing his entire back to feel every single movement of Tyki's, and every amount of pain increases tenfold. As Tyki's thrusting increases in speed, the pain inside of Allen makes his entire being throb, leaving no room for thoughts of escaping.

He cries and shouts for Tyki to stop, but nothing can seem to break his trance like state, even in the slightest. Allen begins to lose hope of coming out of this alive when something he believed impossible happens.

The door bursts open and a very frustrated looking Lulubell appears before his eyes. Fury quickly flares in her eyes; only the fury is directed at Tyki, not Allen. She wastes no time in grabbing Tyki from behind, forcing him to retreat from inside Allen just as he climaxes within him. She drags him out of the room, not even bothering with his nakedness, and while he is still in his state of euphoria and locks him inside of Allen's bathroom.

She wastes no time in returning to Allen only to see the neko barely conscious on the floor, some of Tyki's essense leaking out of him. She makes a move to touch him and assess the damage when something catches her eye two thin red lines are staring to make an appearance around Allen's left eye. One runs vertically from just above his eyebrow down on his eyelid to just under his eye before becoming briefly horizontal and then continuing on down his cheek to his jaw. The second line is much smaller and simply intersects the first line horizontally, halfway between his eye and where the first line becomes horizontal.

When she realizes what has happened, she grabs one of Allen's blankets and begins to wrap the neko up in them despite his weak protests of being touched. When he is sufficiently covered, she carefully picks him up and begins carrying him out of his rooms.

Allen really doesn't want to be touched, he feels so dirty and the pain is just too much. As they pass his bathroom, he can hear Tyki pounding on the door, demanding to be released. Allen cowers further into his blanket, hoping that it will somehow hide him from the person he once thought was his friend. He just wants this torment and pain to end.

Lulubell makes her way as quickly as she can back to the vehicle she has parked outside. When she exits the house with Allen, Skin appears next to her, and without even asking, Lulubell gives him the basics of what just transpired, and where to find Tyki. The only thing she requests of skin is that he not release Tyki until she and Allen are both completely off the property. Skin nods his response before turning and heading back towards the house to keep and eye on Tyki.

When she reaches her car, she struggles for a moment to grab the handle to the backseat, but manages to do so without jostling Allen too much. Once the door is open, she takes care in laying Allen on the backseat. He groans a bit in pain when she finally releases him, but she knows she doesn't have time to worry about that now. She opens the front passenger door and digs through her emergency bag that she brings with her whenever she leaves the ground for the Breeding Program. It takes her only a few seconds to find what she is looking for.

Going back to Allen, she uncaps the syringe and after removing all air bubbles, she quickly inserts the needle in Allen's arm. The neko doesn't seem to notice as his other pains overwhelm that of a simple needle prick. Once all of the liquid has been distributed, Lulubell wastes no time in climbing into the drivers seat, and after taking a quick peak back to see that the drugs have already taken effect and Allen is already asleep, she puts the car in drive and races off of the property.

….

Nearly an hour and one very important phone call later, Lulubell pulls into the emergency garage for the Black Ark. The second she steps out of the car she sees four figures running towards her. One is the Earl himself, next to him is the neko doctor that's been there for quite a while and his following Akuma, and last is one of the human doctors that the Ark keeps on hand just incase anything were to happen to any of its precious merchandise.

She pulls Allen out of the backseat of her car by the time the others get there. After yet another reiteration of what transpired, this time with more details, the group rush inside to do what they can for Allen.

….

Elsewhere, Timcanpy starts to behave erratically, flying around frantically and in no particular pattern, with no intended destination. Out of everyone present, the only person to take notice is a very tired looking Chinese man with a white beret. He sets down his pink coffee mug and after several attempts to catch the golem, finally manages to do so.

"What's gotten you so riled up Tim? Did you short circuit or something?" The golem beats its wings against the man's black hair, trying to get him to understand. "Settle down, settle down. There's nothing to be worried abou – "

The man's eyes widen in shock and dread. "Tim did it finally happen? Did little Allen have his first heat?"

The golem calms down when the man says those words and in its own way, it nods its head.


	9. Connecting the Past

Chapter 8

Allen opens his eyes to a familiar, but yet, not familiar room. The blank white walls, constant beeping of a heart monitor, the thin blankets over his equally thin excuse for a garment immediately alerts him to a general idea about his present whereabouts. A hospital room, or at least some type of in-patient room at a clinic. He feels like he's been spending a bit too much time in this type of room as of late.

His head feels heavy as some type of anesthetic wears off, leaving him feeling wide awake and completely aware of his surroundings, but unable to move about freely on his own. He is aware of the IV needle taped to his hand, multiple small and larger bandages covering much of his small frame, even one wrapped around his head that's just a little too tight for comfort. And though presently, the worst physical pain is that his head may feel heavy, but his entire being feels filthy inside and out. Despite everything surrounding him, all he can feel is Tyki, still inside of him, still pounding into him relentlessly.

Allen lays on the uncomfortable bed, shaking as memories of what occurred assault his mind as if they are happening again, right at that very moment. He slams his eyes shut, hoping that the rush of images and emotions will disappear along with his physical view of reality.

He's too busy trying to block out his memories, that he doesn't hear the door open and when that person tries to speak to him, he can't hear them. The only reason that he is aware that there is another person in the room, is that that person gently reaches out and shakes his shoulder, attempting to get him to stop panicking.

Allen lets out a scream when the person makes contact with him. His mind is convincing him that Tyki is back for another round, no matter what Allen says or does. Allen lashes out, eyes still shut, and mind still consumed in the past, making his movements uncoordinated and indirect. A pair of hands tries to hold his arms down, but Allen will have none of that. He starts to try to kick at whoever it is, his mind hoping that maybe he can delay Tyki for just a little longer.

The figure releases a sigh before calling for assistance, and before too long, another person enters the room of the still struggling Allen. One holds him as still as they can while the other reluctantly secures Allen's hands and feet to the bed, greatly limiting his mobility and his ability to lash out. They observe him for a moment as he struggles against the bindings, and one of the figures steps forwards and lowers themeslf down by his head. The figure takes a deep, reluctant breath before shouting "Allen!" into the young neko's sensitive ears.

His eyes snap open and fear is the most prevalent emotion that is displayed. His unfocused eyes try to scan the room for the source of the shout, but his mind is too locked in the past for him to register anything that is happening at the current time and place.

One of the figures quickly exits the room only to return in under a minute, a capped needle in their hand. The figure uncaps the needle, the top flying off to some corner of the room, and after squeezing out the air bubbles, they expertly inject the substance into Allen's right arm.

It takes a couple of minutes, but eventually the young neko stats to calm down. The tension starts to leave his body, his tail smooths down to its original state, and his eyes start to become clearer, more present and understanding, but there is still an underlying blankness in them.

"Allen." Lulubell's voice is soft, but still demanding of what little of Allen's attention she can gain. "Allen, you don't have to be afraid anymore. Both Tyki and the heat are gone. No ones going to hurt you. You must understand this." When she doesn't get a response, she tries another strategy. "Allen, do you know where you are, or what day it is?"

The small neko slowly turns his head in her direction, his eyes and expression still completely blank. He stares in her direction and just as slowly, shakes his head.

Lulubell internally sighs. She knew that Allen would deeply affected by what happened, but for this shell to be all that's left is not quite what she was expecting or hoping for. She knows that for a Breeder to be forcibly mated with someone whose not their intended mate can leave some mental trauma, but nothing to this great of an extent has even been seen before. She knows she needs to find someway to regain the old Allen as much as possible, or else his use for the Program could be in jeopardy, as well as her position.

"Allen, you are in the main medical facility of the Black Ark. Your injuries were unknown and needed to be taken care of right away. I brought you here so that you could receive the needed attention as soon as possible. And while it seems that most of your bodily injuries were minor, we did have to knock you out for a bit." When the flicker of a questioning look passes through Allen's otherwise lifeless eyes, Lulubell continues. "You were already partially unconscious by your own subconscious doing, but in that state you weren't letting us help you, and in fact while trying to stop us, you just ended up hurting yourself worse."

She gently taps Allen's head. "That's why we had to knock you out." She pauses for a second, trying to figure out the best way to tell him the next bit. "We've been forced to keep you under sedation for nearly a month. At first it was just because every time you were even slightly awake, you would attack anyone close to you, or start unintentionally harming yourself, mumbling about how you can still feel him inside of you, how you want to escape, and that you wish that you weren't in such pain. Every single one of those times we had to restrain you and put you back under so that the new wounds you would inflict could heal.

"Somehow in all of that you ended up hurting yourself enough that you developed an infection that needed our immediate attention. It only lasted for a few days, but enough to give us quite a scare. If it had grown anymore with out us knowing, it might have been carried even further in your blood stream and the litter might have been miscarried, which at that point, could have put more strain on your body than it could have handled at that point."

She stops as Allen's eyes, still lifeless in gaze, widen a fraction, betraying his surprise at something she said. "W – wha – what – l – li - litt - litter?"

Lulubell gives him a small sad smile. "It seems that since your first heat was so strong, it forced you to release massive amounts of pheromones, not just enough to effect a human, but enough to force them to loose all coherent logical thoughts, and in effect, drive them to mate with you. That's why Tyki attacked you, it's nothing you did, but something that you couldn't help and is perfectly normal for you. It's not yours or Tyki's fault that this happened. It was just a natural biological response to the pheromones." Allen eyes betray the distress that is building with each mention of Tyki, and the annoyance that Lulubell still hasn't answered his question. "Basically Allen, because of all of this, you seem to be carrying a rather larger litter."

She looks at his confused, disbelieving look. So many emotions are flickering through his otherwise lifeless demeanor, each one more confused, resentful, and angry than the last. She watches him for a minute and can tell that no matter what she says, he'll be going to pieces soon as he tries to process this new information, so she had better finish what she is saying a quickly as possible.

"I'm sorry Allen, you're now carrying Tyki's litter. But because he's a human, they won't be able to survive. If they are lucky, they might survive to be born, but not much past then so you should prepare yourself for the inevitable. Also, because we already know that they won't live we would normally just give your owner the option to have you receive an abortion and have you begin the recovery process as soon as possible so that you can carry a new neko litter sooner, but seeing as you don't officially have an owner outside of the Millennium Earl, and because we need you as healthy as you can be, seeing as how you are a Bearer, you will be carrying them until either your own body chooses to abort them, or they are ready to be birthed, live or not. This way anything and everything that happens is natural and the amount of damage inflicted on your body is limited."

She can tell that she's starting to lose Allen to the mentions of Tyki and the revelation of the doomed kittens. His eyes are glazing over again; tears are slowly trailing down his face despite the lack of other visible emotion. He starts to subtly shake again, the swirling mass of emotions demanding a physical response that he doesn't want to show, his tail starts to curl close to him as his ears go flat against his head, trying desperately to block out her words.

Lulubell resigns herself to being shut out for the time being and heads for the door. She nods at Reever as she leaves, signaling that it's up to him to try to calm Allen down and make him comfortable until she returns. He returns the nod as she shuts the door behind her, locking it before she continues down through the halls.

Reever looks around for a moment, trying to figure out what he can do for his friend in his current state. Eventually he just grabs one of the spinning chairs in the room and scoots it over to Allen's bed. He sits backwards on it, staring at the younger neko for a few moments, knowing that this young one has experienced something that no one should ever have to. He reaches and gently holds the younger's hand, trying to have that contact radiate as many positive emotions and as much support as he can, for the younger deserves something positive despite all that has happened.

At first, Allen tries to pull away from the touch, more tears streaming down his face showing his discomfort, his tail twitching angrily even fluffing up slightly. After a few minutes of Reever not letting go, but not moving his hand either, Allen begins to stop trying to pull away from him. He doesn't try to touch or grab Reever's hand, but he doesn't reject it anymore. He simply lets it be there as long as the hand doesn't do anything.

They just stay like that for a while, letting Allen cry his fill, letting the horrors of the recent past flow away with each tear and ease away as much as they will for now. When Allen has calmed down enough to understand most of his surroundings again, Reever starts to talk to him, not about anything important, just the everyday things that happen at the Black Ark, things both familiar and foreign to Allen, anything that might help him reconnect with the present.

He tells Allen how after his group was sold, Miranda was back within the week because the person who had bought her made her more nervous than normal and ended up giving her a panic attack. This made the woman return her instead of worrying if her belongings would be accidently broken or if her new pet would be paranoid enough to try to commit suicide, a waste of money in her eyes.

Reever also tells Allen of what became of Alma after they parted ways. Apparently man who had bought him was hoping to start his own type of selective breeding program and thought that Alma would be a good first candidate for it. When Alma caught wind of this, he and the man had a bit of a fight and while the man was tending to his bleeding face, Alma managed to somehow escape from this house, make it past his other security measures and hasn't been heard from since. They only way anyone at the Black Ark even knows about this is that anyone who had had contact with him the previous week was interrogated. After a week of no new information, he was labeled as missing property of the Ark and no one has been able to present any real leads to his whereabouts.

By now Allen has significantly calmed down, despite still being extremely tense. Reever gives a small smile at this. He goes on to tell Allen about what has become of Timothy. The kitten has remained with the other kittens at the Black Ark doing whatever is required of him to stay out of trouble with the Akuma, but that doesn't stop him from causing havoc for the other nekos he stays with. He has been keeping up with his new studies, trying his best to remember all the basics of spelling and mathematics, despite how much trouble they seem to be for him. Otherwise he had is sixth birthday, right after Allen left to stay with the Noahs, and is still a growing kitten that is desperate for attention.

By this point Allen has fallen into an uneasy sleep, but still manages a small quirk of a smile after hearing that the kitten is alright. Seeing the quick smile is all Reever needs to know that eventually, and it still won't be for a long time, but eventually Allen will be alright again, despite everything that's happened to him.

….

Allen stays confined to the same room for the next two weeks, between a few more meltdowns and a small flu, it was better for everyone concerned that he stay in one place. During that time, Allen starts to gain back some of his former privileges and freedoms. First it starts with no long having to be restrained and having the ability to walk freely around the room, and eventually he is even allowed to stay in his old room during the majority of the day. He doesn't have any companions in either room besides seeing either Lulubell or Reever while in the clinic room, other than that, he remains alone with his thoughts.

Allen slowly starts to get used to being around the other two and being able to stay in his own room, and away from the clinic lets some familiarity away from the Noahs come back to him, helping to ease a little of his tension. However at the end of those two weeks, Lulubell decides that Allen is stable enough to start interacting with some of the other nekos again. Allen is still scared, but a little excited to be seeing others of his own kind again.

Only this time, Lulubell is taking no chances and instead of having him rejoin the male group where she feels that Allen will be more uncomfortable or ostracized for his being a Bearer, and at the very worst, attack him for carrying the doomed kittens of a human. Instead she is having him stay with the females and kittens. She figures that the atmosphere will be better for him, many of the females will be able to empathize with him and be able to understand his circumstances better, besides, maybe spending some time with the kittens will help him to be more optimistic about having some in the future.

The morning that he is supposed to start joining the women and kittens, Allen is a little surprised when he wakes to a knocking at his door, and is even more surprised to find an Akuma there. The Akuma quickly ushers him out of the room and starts heading off in a direction that Allen is sure he's never been taken before.

After a few minutes of walking through the seemingly endless hallways that seem even more unfamiliar that usual, the Akuma stops in front of a pair of rather plain doors. It swipes a card and one of the doors opens just a crack. The Akuma gestures for Allen to enter, and once he hesitantly has, it shuts the door, locking it as it heads off to another part of the Black Ark.

Allen finds himself in a room that is nearly identical to what he is used to with the male nekos, but he is a bit confused when he finds the room to be occupied by female nekos and kittens. They all stop what they are doing to look at him for a moment, confusion, then understanding crossing the faces of the females. They had been told that the Bearer would be staying with them for a while. Seeing the Mark on his face tells them everything they need to know, the Bearer has finally had his first heat, and in order to protect him if it suddenly flares up, which is not unheard of, he is to stay away from the males who might be affected by the heat.

They go back to whatever they were doing before, trying not to stare, but finding themselves sneaking glances to the awkward teenager by the door. The kittens are a little less subtle about their curiosity, the seven of them rushing up to him, squealing in delight at the sight of the strange newcomer. Out of all of them, Timothy is the most surprised and excited to see his old friend again. He pushes through the others pulling Allen's legs in as tight of a hug as he can muster. He doesn't notice the older freeze with the contact, or feel when Allen backs into the door, fear and panic flooding the older's senses.

Taking the cue from Timothy, the other kittens start to try to grab and pull him, trying to convince him to play with them. When he doesn't respond they just get louder, pulling harder and harder, making tears of pain and panic stream down his face, as he remains frozen in place.

Lucky for Allen, Miranda happens to be in the room, and after seeing Allen's response, comes to his aid. She announces to the kittens that the snacks are ready and they rush off to find their food, leaving Allen alone with Miranda and Timothy.

The female carefully takes his hand and guides him over to a chair at an empty table. Allen sits, unmoving with slower tears still managing to escape. Miranda watches him for a moment and after she realizes that she wont' be getting a response out of him anytime soon, she leads Timothy back to the others, telling him to give Allen some time to get used to being with them again.

However, despite the best efforts of Miranda and Timothy, nothing changes for Allen. His only emotions being brief expressions of his eyes and the occasional tears when the stress becomes too much. Everyday he comes into the room and sits at the same table, never moving, never talking with anyone. The kittens have long since given up trying to get him to respond and have moved onto more exciting things. Miranda and Timothy will sit with Allen for part of the day, either just to be near him, or to talk to him about their day or things that they've heard are happening other places outside of the Black Ark.

He does seem to relax in the slightest when they talk to him, but he never really responds unless it is the slight shaking or nodding of his head. Timothy even managed to untie the ribbon that Allen had given him and knotted it onto the wrist of the older, hoping for at least a smile. He received only a surprised, but thankful look from Allen before he resumes his staring at nothing.

This continues for the next month before Lulubell decides that Allen needs to be moved from the Black Ark and into a home again, and with any of the houses owned by the Noah out of the question, she suggests having him stay at the one place that is left at their disposal. The home of the Millennium Earl.

….

Before he is to go to stay at the Earl's home, Allen is told where he will be staying and why. He makes no response to this, and doesn't even flinch when they inject him with something that will knock him out for the trip, making sure that he will not be able to remember how to get from one place to the other, or anything in-between the two that might give away their locations.

So when Allen wakes the following morning in a room has never seen before and doesn't remember entering, he doesn't panic as much as he would have if he had not been told the night before. He stares at his surroundings, taking in how extravagant they are compared to anywhere else he's ever been before. The bed he is sitting on is king sized covered with a dark red, down comforter and soft white cotton sheets. There is a black canopy and sides bound to the dark wooden posts at the corners of the bed, blood red ties holding them in place. On one side of the bed is a small end table with an alarm clock. The other side has another end table, this one with a flower vase containing a single black rose.

Beyond the bed is a rather large room with a full wardrobe with clothes that are already Allen sized. He notices a few with a slightly large waist for when his stomach starts to grow more with the unborn kittens. Opposite the wardrobe is a full-length mirror.

Allen approaches the mirror, having not seen his own reflection since he left the house of Noahs. He immediately notices the red Mark that now dominates his face, and how hollow and empty his eyes have become. He then takes note of how thin and paler than normal he has become. He knows that he has been eating the same as always, but it seem that the unborn kittens want more nutrition than he has been able to give them. He turns to the side where he can see the subtle bulge of a once flat stomach. Because he was thin to begin with, he knows that he's showing more than normal, that and with the amount of kittens he's carrying, it will be a wonder if he can even stand on his own when it comes time to birth them. At a recent appointment with Lulubell, they tried an ultrasound and discovered what appears to be five small forms within him. For all they know there could be more kittens that they couldn't see, but for sure there are five on their way.

Allen turns to face the mirror again. This time he reaches up and carefully peals off the bandage that has been covering most of his forehead since he started to claw at it during his initial breakdowns after being raped. Once they fall free, he stares at what he finds, confused and slightly amused at the same time. Apparently his claw marks scared over to form a pentacle connecting to the very top of his Mark, making the two flow seamlessly together. He lets out a slight laugh at the irony of the unintentional curse mark he forced on himself.

He turns away from the mirror and begins to explore the room again. He finds a door by the wardrobe that leads into a rather spacious bathroom, not as big as the last one he had personal use of, but still more than ample. A shower is separate from a large soaking tub, and there is a large counter with two sinks. Shampoos, soaps, and other necessary items have already been left in their respective places just waiting for him to use them.

As he looks around he starts to hear the slight sounds of music drifting through the room. He makes his way over to the main door, and after some brief hesitation, is rather surprised to find it open. He pokes his head out of the room, waiting to be yelled at for leaving without permission, but with not a soul in sight, he exits the room, leaving the door slightly ajar so that he knows which room he is supposed to be in.

He wonders down a couple of rather ornately decorated hallways filled with antiques and paintings, each one different which makes it easier for Allen to remember where he has come from for when he needs to find his way back.

Just off of the second hallway is a room that is occupied by a full wall length window overlooking a garden maze on the grounds below. In the middle of the room is a grand piano, it's haunting melody filling the room with memories and images long forgotten by everyone except the music.

There is a neko at the piano; his eyes are shut as his fingers dance across the keys with ease. His black tail swaying in time with the music, and his ears pricked at attention of the music, making sure not a note is out of sequence. Allen notices that he looks vaguely like the Noah, with his dark hair and ashen skin tone, but there is something about him that seem different, more at ease with himself.

When the last note fades and the room is filled with complete silence as the memories retreat back into their music, the neko turns to look at Allen. His dark golden eyes look surprised for a moment but a small smile makes itself visible. He walks over to the glass window and motions for Allen to take a seat next to him.

"So you must be the neko that's staying here temporarily. Allen is it? You know you've caused quite an uproar around here, I haven't seen the Earl this excited in ages." He pauses looking at Allen for a moment. "You know, you're not exactly what I was expecting. You're a little on the short side and you absolutely reek of Tyki. Did you fall asleep on him or something recently?"

Allen quickly looks down at the suddenly very interesting floor, trying desperately not to relive or revive those memories he's tried to hard to bury. The new neko looks confused for a moment, but noticing the slight bulge in Allen's stomach and sensing his discomfort, he is able to get a rough idea of what happened.

"Ok sorry, touchy subject." He too looks down at the floor, trying to think of something to say to distract the other. When he notices the ribbon on Allen's wrist, he quickly grabs onto the opportunity. "Where did you get that ribbon? Can I see it?"

Allen looks a little reluctant, but slowly and carefully offers his wrist with the ribbon to the other neko. He takes it carefully so as to not frighten Allen, and looks it over with a slightly amused expression. He stops for a moment to smell it, and a confused look crosses his face. He sniffs it a couple of more times and sharply releases Allen's hand.

"That – That's impossible! But scents don't lie." He looks Allen directly in the eye. "Where did you get this? Who did you take it from? Where are they? TELL ME NOW!"

Allen starts backing away from the now yelling neko, holding his wrist close. "It – It's mine! I've – I've always – always had it!" He slips on the floor falling back, he doesn't attempt to get up, but simply stays where he is, attempting to look smaller than he already is, hoping that the other will lose interest in him.

The other neko stalks over to him and sits on the floor pulling Allen close. Allen struggles to get away, but the other takes no heed, as he is too busy trying to inhale Allen's scent. After a moment he stops and gently pushes Allen away a couple of feet. He looks at Allen with eyes wide with confusion, joy, and disbelief.

"This is impossible! It's been over 17 years, and yet here you are." Allen scoots further away. "I should have recognized your scent right away, but I just couldn't believe it. No, I didn't want to believe it. But your ribbon confirmed it, after all, scents linger on even after they have left their original owner." He looks Allen dead in the eye once again. "I'm your brother."

Allen looks at him with confusion and fear.

"I know you don't believe me, but hear me out, I'll prove to you that what I'm saying is true." He pauses to collect his now jumbled thoughts. "I was born to one of the nekos in the Breeding Program, back when they were in their last building, I don't remember his name because they separated us right after I was born, and only mentioned it once or twice in the next couple of years. All I know is that this neko had dark hair that he used to keep pulled back with a red ribbon, and fair skin. There was much excitement when I was four because he finally became pregnant again after so long, they were hoping that he would have multiples this time, instead of just one like with me.

"I remember catching a brief glimpse of him one night after everyone was supposed to have gone to bed. He was rushing past my room, very obviously in pain and with a brown paper bag filled with blankets with him. Now I heard the rest of this later and didn't see it myself so please believe me.

"Apparently he somehow managed to sneak out of the facility. I don't know exactly what his plan was, but apparently he only made it a few miles before his water broke and he went into labor in some random street. I'm guessing that the labor didn't last very long otherwise he would have been caught much sooner. Anyway, he was eventually found several miles from the Breeding Program building at that time, he was brought back as quietly as possible, as to not let anyone know what happened.

"But I saw him, I saw him when he left, and I saw him when he came back. He was very obviously not as round as before, his hands slightly red with blood from the single blanket he was carrying, no bag or second blanket in sight. But more importantly, his hair tie was missing.

"The next day I was brought in to see him for some reason. He didn't say much, just looked at me and told me that somewhere out there is a neko, my bother, named 'Allen'. He told me that he left his hair ribbon with you, just so I'd know it was you. Now, I thought he was crazy so I just left the room after that, but I sort of wished that I'd stayed. It was the last time I ever saw him. He died later that day."

He looks at Allen for a moment, taking note of the similarities they two of them share, and the differences that make them unique. "I know that you probably don't believe me, but I hope that eventually, you will. Now there's something I need to do since you're here."

He stands up and exits the room, leaving Allen alone with this new information. He returns moments later, looking slightly panicked. "I didn't expect the Earl to be returning so quickly. Now, this might hurt a little, but believe me, it'll help in the long run."

He pulls out a piece of what looks like tape and very carefully and gently, takes Allen's left ear and presses the tape against it, making sure that his thumb is directly over the print. After a moment, there is a very slight heat, and the earing unclasps. The neko claiming to be Allen's brother quickly removes it and takes one that looks identical and clasps it into place.

He hears footsteps approaching. "That new earing looks like the one with the tracker, but it's just a piece of special metal that will come out for anyone. Now I need you to keep the tracker with you for now, really soon you will be able to leave it behind, but until then, keep it with you at all times. Understood?"

Allen doesn't have a chance to respond as the footsteps are at the doorway to the piano room. The older neko says a quick "I'm sorry" before swiftly scratching Allen across the nose, making him jump back in surprise.

A pair of strong hands are quick to pick up Allen, and immediately head towards the door. Whoever is holding him stops for a second before heading down the hall. "Neah! I expressly told you not to fight with him. Now I have to go take care of this poor kitty, but I'll be back so either you make yourself scares, or you wait here and take your punishment sooner rather than later." As they leave the room, Allen sees that Neah's face is to the ground, but a small smile escapes and his tail is happily twitching.

The Earl continues down the hall, still holding Allen. He mumbles multiple apologies to the young neko, but the only thing that stands out, is that Allen will be going back to the Black Ark now that Neah refuses to accept him and will likely attack him. Something that the Earl is not willing to risk.

...

The redhead walks down the familiar hallway before waltzing through one of the closed doors. The occupant doesn't respond, but chooses to ignore the intruder. But the redhead will have none of this as he sits across from his long time friend, eyes glancing at the sword that the dark haired one holds.

"We got a hit today. One of our informants was able to give us last bit of the security system's layout. I guess that this means that we'll finally be able to do it. Finally be able to break into that place, get as many out as possible, and if we work fast enough, completely purge their system of all useful information. Who knows, maybe we'll find out where he went."

Dark eyes flash up to meet bright green. "I will find him. Even if I have to tear apart this entire city to find him.


	10. The Plan Moves Forward

Chapter 9

To say that Kanda is not amused with the current circumstances would be an understatement. There is so much that could have been changed and things could have turned out better in the long run. So much time that could have been spent doing more important, more productive things. So much wasted time, and look where that's gotten him.

The day that that nearly forgotten golden golem had started going crazy was like an awakening for many who had lost hope of ever finding their friends and loved ones again. They had automatically redoubled their efforts to hack into any organization or website that had anything at all to do with nekos. For weeks they had searched through thousands of sites and organizations with varying results. Most of the new information revolved on recruiting people to go out and kidnap more nekos, and scout out where they lived, or keep tabs on any kittens that were still in some type protective custody.

Interestingly enough, it was the Baka Usagi who managed to find what Kanda was looking for the most. The redhead had been working on a hack for an organization that seemed to be overly protective of their files. Most people figured that if a week of attempted hacking with no results and a still standing firewall, it must just be a plant to distract them from the real files, and it was ultimately dismissed.

However, Lavi kept working on it, saying that he had a good feeling that this one was the one that they needed. He spent nearly a month playing touch and go with the firewalls, but eventually he managed to find a crack to expose. In a matter of seconds, his screen was flooded with files and documents from the last several decades for a place referred to simply as The Black Ark.

With this discovery, Lavi quickly selected a few people to help him sift through all of this new information and to try and find what they were looking for. Lenalee and Komui threw themselves into the task with great enthusiasm, somehow knowing that this is what they had been searching for, ever since Kanda had initially been taken.

The amount of information they had discovered was simply overwhelming. Everything from names and current locations of nekos across the globe, to the network that could activate the tracking devices each one is forced to wear somewhere on their person at all times. Profiles of 'available merchandise', and even live feeds on the current inhabitants of The Black Ark all became available with just a click of a mouse or the push of a button.

By the third day of this, Kanda caught wind of just how much information was being uncovered and began to look into the new information on his own time. Before he can really start his search, he was bombarded with more names and faces than he thought he would ever see in his lifetime, all of which has spent at least some time in The Black Ark. Even though he had this intimidatingly large group in front of him, he only had two names and faces that he cared about more than the rest.

Finding the information on Alma wasn't as hard as he thought it would be, given how much trouble the two of them caused. But with a simple search by name and age, the older neko was fairly easy to find, especially as he was currently labeled as missing, and there was a watch for any neko fitting his description.

After that, Kanda wasted no more time is searching for his Moyashi. This search took much longer and was much more tedious as most of the information, or even mention of the white-haired neko was kept confidential, and kept away from common, less wealthy, potential customers or employees. But with enough time and effort, he was finally greeted with a profile and picture of the one he was torn from so many years ago.

The date on the picture said that it was from more than seven months ago, so right after the Moyashi was kidnapped, and after knowing what would have awaited the smaller neko, Kanda knew that he must have changed in appearance by now just from the stress and lifestyle forced upon those living in The Black Ark. His appearance would have aged him closer to his actual age instead of the more youthful state that nekos his age should still be in. Kanda still manages to smile at sad smile for a bit at the photo, despite their long separation; the Moyashi still looked very much the same. The same bright eyes, now laced with fear and uncertainty, the floppy ears that still refuse to stand proud like they should, and the shock of white hair that makes the Moyashi unique compared to all of the other nekos that Kanda has ever met.

Moving past the picture and scanning through the rest of the profile, Kanda discovers many things he never knew before about his Moyashi. He never knew about him being antisocial around other nekos, but then again, it was only ever just the two of them for the longest time. He also never knew that Allen had and affinity for taking care of and protecting younger kids, especially kittens, but yet again it was only ever the two of them so they never had never been around any nekos younger than themselves. But the most shocking thing that Kanda learned was that Allen was a Bearer.

Kanda had always known about Bearers, in fact, his family has protected Bearers and any Bearer kittens for centuries before this mess with the humans happened. It was considered an honor to be serving someone who helped their people so much, and even back before humans became and issue, there had always been a need for Bearers. Back when the rival neko clans would have wars and skirmishes with each other, it was always the Bearers that were in the most danger. The danger came not as a threat of death, but especially for non-mated Bearers, the danger came in the form of being kidnapped and spirited away to the other clan to help increase their own people. That was why Kanda's family took it upon themselves to protect the Bearers as best they could, and make sure that no harm came to them. When the Bearers had started to die out as a result of humans, his family increased their efforts, but it was in vain. Before too long, all of the Bearers in known existence were under the control of humans, and Kanda's family was no longer able to serve and protect them as they had in the past.

The irony of the situation is great for Kanda. Here he was in the perfect place to protect one of the last free Bearers, to carry on his family's legacy, but he failed. He failed at protecting not just a Bearer, but also his best friend. Thoughts of shame and regret fill his mind as he reads further into the profile, noting how much his Moyashi is worth in the eyes of humans, and what he means for them. He also notes, how unlike the other profiles, there is no knows location listed for the Moyashi, something that puzzles Kanda to no end.

He has to tear his eye away from the screen, away from the image of a lost friend that he could do nothing for and could not find. He holds his head in his hands as the situation weighs down on him yet again. A single tear slowly made its way down his face, its trail burning with his emotions and regrets.

That was nearly three months ago. Nearly three months have passed since they had finally opened the one file that had spurred everyone into action. Nearly three months longer since Kanda has been separated from his Moyashi.

And in that time, there is so much that has happened to find and rescue everyone that they can from The Black Ark, that once again, thoughts of Allen seem to have flown from the immediate thoughts of everyone except the people he was once able to call friend. For those people, this mission means not only helping so many others, but maybe, just maybe, being able to finally find a dear friend that has been stolen from them.

But tomorrow that is going to change. Tomorrow they will finally be able to carry out the plan that they have been working on for the last few months. And even if they can't find Allen, Kanda will tear that place apart, even if it means interrogating the Earl himself, just to find out where Allen is so that he can go and finally bring him home.

….

For Allen, the last month has been one of complete boredom. After being hauled back to The Black Ark, he was separated from everyone else again, just to make sure that Neah hadn't hurt him in any other way besides a scratch to the cheek. He has been left in his room again, only being let out to see Lulubell and use the restroom, otherwise he was never able to go anywhere else and was only given a couple of books to try and ease the resulting boredom. Needless to say, those books didn't last very long, and even after rereading them a time or two, they just didn't hold much appeal to Allen, and the boredom quickly returned.

Even though he is still leery of others, he is willing to even go and sit in with either of the neko groups, just to have someone or something to watch, and to truly remember that he is not the only one in the facility, that there are others being held there as well. He really doesn't want to interact with any of them directly, but still knowing that they are there might be a little comforting.

Eventually the boredom is put on hold for a bit when Lulubell decides to break some news to Allen. It has been decided that he is to be moved to the main building for the Breeding Program where he will be able to receive better medical attention as the doomed pregnancy progresses. The other reason for the sudden move is that the Program believes that it might have isolated a few prospective mates for Allen. They want him to meet them, and hopefully bond with one of them and when the time is right, successfully mate with one of them.

The thoughts of his looming future consume his already confused and conflicted thoughts. Who are these suitors? Is Kanda one of them? What if one of them is supposed to be his mate? What if none of them are meant to be his mate, but will they still want him to mate with one of them? Will he be able to meet the other Bearers? What will happen to him after his kittens are born? Questions swirl around with more ferociousness confusing him and making him worry more than normal.

The morning of day that he is supposed to be leaving for the Breeding Program, he is led out of his room one last time, and finds himself being given one last checkup before they leave. Lulubell watches from the sidelines as Reever makes quick work of monitoring the necessary aspects of Allen's health.

There is one thing different about this checkup than normal, and that is that Reever puts his stethoscope to Allen's stomach to see if he can detect heartbeats from the unborn kittens. He smiles for a second before handing the stethoscope to Allen. Allen listens for a second before his eyes widen in surprise as he is greeted with the sound of not just one heartbeat, but several small, very fast heartbeats.

It doesn't take very long for him to be swept up in the sound, blocking out everything around him except for the beating of so many tiny hearts. However, his concentration is startled back to the present when an alarm suddenly starts blaring throughout the hallways.

Lulubell immediately snaps to attention. She goes to ask the Akuma outside the door what is going on, but finds them nowhere to be found. She hesitates for a second before spinning around to face the two nekos. "Something's happened. You are to stay here until either myself or another member of The Black Ark comes to get you. Do not leave this room for any other reason." With that she rushes out of the room, carefully locking the two nekos inside.

The two look at each other for a moment before finding their own respective areas to settle into while they wait for someone to come get them, figuring that this is some kind of false alarm. Reever takes a seat near the door where he can see out of the small window, and Allen curls up in a corner out of sight of the door. When several minutes have passed and still no one has come to collect them, their nerves begin to tense, sensing that something out of the normal is happening. They don't need words to express to each other that they will wait to see what happens, and if given the chance, try to escape.

Soon minutes seem to stretch into hours as sounds of far off fighting begin to reach their sensitive ears. The sounds of weapons fire and metal clashing on metal, ring in the air with the continuing sirens, permeate the air. Though the sounds are too far off to immediately concern them, they still pay close attention to them.

In the middle of the commotion, Allen begins to feel lightheaded and starts to feel an extreme pressure in his lower stomach. He clenches his teeth, trying to slow his breathing, and regulate it to keep the pain at bay, but despite his efforts, it persists. Pretty soon he can't even concentrate and can feel himself falling out of consciousness as the pain takes over.

Suddenly there is a muffled voice outside of the room and after a few seconds the door flies open with tremendous force.

….

Kanda stands with the group, impatience clear in his entire being. He's been standing with the others for the last five minutes as some expert tries to unlock a door without setting off any alarms and alert the buildings occupants any earlier then they eventually will. He knows that he needs to be patient, and the longer he can remain so, means the sooner that he can see his Moyashi again, but the possibility of being so close to his goal is driving him closer and closer to just breaking the locks and the alarms be damned.

Just when he thinks that his nerves might finally snap, the door is finally opened and the group floods into the building. He knows that he has less than half an hour to find what he's looking for before they have to retreat to the extra vehicles that will be arriving at that time. As soon as he's in the door, he quickly sets off down a hall with Alma on his tail, knowing that it's just a short matter of time before he can find out just exactly where they are.

He stops at the next split in hallways and leans over to check near the bottom quarter of the curved wall to see what symbol had been left there. He knew that even a slight scratch is not to be overlooked, especially since it had taken him and Alma both of their entire times here to constantly sneak out and mark the hallways to find out where each went and how to follow the symbols to get from point A to point B without getting lost. Smiling triumphantly when he finds what he is looking for, he quickly sets off down the next hall eager to find his target.

He is less than halfway down the hallway when the alarm begins to alert the facility to the intruders. He tries to not let it bother him, but he knows that he has even less time now than he had hoped for. He and Alma quicken their pace as they head for the Earl's office.

After two more turns, they catch sight of a blond woman hurrying down the hall towards them, but not looking up from the floor. As if she senses their presence and them looking at her, she stops to look up at them, and after pausing for a second, turns and tries to run in the opposite direction yelling about intruders.

Alma wastes no time in catching up to her and tackling her to the ground, pining her as best as he can without seriously hurting her. She struggles to get away, but instantly stills when she feels the slight prick of a blade at her neck. Looking up the long katana blade, she finds herself face to face with Kanda. She can feel the malice radiating off of him, but her attention is diverted back to Alma as he tries to speak to her.

"Where is he? If you're here then that means that he's here too. So why not make this as painless as possible and tell us where he is? We promise to let you live if you do." The strain in his voice is evident as he tries to control his emotions, namely his rage at the woman before him.

She manages to glare at him. "I don't know who you're talking about. Now, if you'll get off of me I can pretend that I didn't see you for a few minutes, before the Akuma come after you and return you to your rightful owners."

The two narrow their eyes dangerously at her. Both knowing that she has information that she needs, but both assuming that she knows something different. Alma sneers this time as he speaks. "Where. Is. Allen? The only damn reason you were ever here in the first place is because of him, and I'm going to bet that the same is true now." She simply blinks up at the two. "Tell us NOW!"

She defiantly refuses to even speak, just smiling with the knowledge that she knows something they don't. She knows that she will never tell simply because she knows that her job and her life is on the line if anything were to happen to the Bearer because of these two rogue neko. But her eyes betray her for just the fraction of a second as she looks off down the hallway she just came from.

Kanda catches this movement, and without a second thought, takes off at a sprint, knowing now that his Moyashi is closer than he's been in years. He doesn't even notice when Alma doesn't follow right away, his thoughts too consumed on his new task.

He sees that the hall fills with rooms further up, and since only a few have lights on, he decides to start checking those first for any signs of life. Most of them appear to be empty, but out of the corner of his eye, he spies the tip of a brown ear in one room. He tries the handle for the door, and after finding it locked, he tries to tell the occupant to back away, before he backs up before charging the door.

The door slams open and Kanda quickly regains his balance as he uses the momentum to move him closer to the center of the room. He immediately sees that the brown-haired neko has stood up with his sudden entrance. "If you want to leave this place, head out of this room and go to the right, there should be a black-haired neko named Alma down there who will help escort you out of here. Now, if you'll excuse my, I have some unfinished business here."

The brown-haired neko looks confused for a second. "Alma's here? But we thought he had gone AWOL. Is he here to get Allen out of here? Who are you, and how do you know Alma?"

Kanda freezes at the mention of the Moyashi. His eyes locking on those of the older neko. "You know Allen? Where is he? I NEED TO KNOW!" He doesn't even apologize for shouting, knowing that the sooner he finds his Moyashi, the sooner he can calm down.

The older neko doesn't answer; he simply heads over to one of the corners of the room. Kanda follows behind, becoming annoyed with the lack of answers. When he notices the older leaning over something, he looks over his shoulder to see just what is hiding in the corner.

The second he sees Allen, his heart stops for a second, trying to take in what his eyes are seeing. His Moyashi is leaning on the wall, his brown furrowed and face contorted with pain. His Mark stands out sharply against his paler than normal skin, making it appear to be darker and bloodier than normal on the slightly gaunt face. The rest of Allen seems to be far too thin to be healthy, his already small clothes falling off his even smaller frame. Kanda feels his eyes drawn to Allen's slightly protruding stomach, noticing that it doesn't seem like the Moyashi was putting on weight, but the fact that his stomach is still larger than normal concerns him.

He doesn't wait for any movement or consent from the older neko as he scoops Allen into his arms. The younger is far too light to be healthy, and far too hot. His skin is practically blistering compared to Kanda's. Allen groans slightly in pain as he is moved, and Kanda is quick to notice this and move the Moyashi as little as possible.

Reever stares at him for a second as he makes his way to the door, surprised by his actions and that Allen didn't try to push him away, despite being unconscious. He follows Kanda, confused by what he just witnessed.

Kanda exits the room briefly stopping in front of Alma. Alma takes quick note of Allen, and after a small smile graces his face, it is quickly replaced by a frown at his appearance and unconscious state. He looks between Kanda and Allen for a moment and his frown deepens for a moment.

Kanda chooses not to notices as he gently repositions Allen so that he is being held bridal style as he begins to make his way back to the meeting point. As they reach some of the main hallways, Kanda notices more members of his group leading small groups of nekos out of the building. Always having the move forward when the group member looks behind them to make sure that they aren't followed and to stop anything that tries.

After a minute, Kanda manages to get Allen out of the building and rushes him over to the medical vehicle. On his way over he spots a familiar shock of red hair being loaded inside of the van. When the medical team spies Kanda, they waste no time in gently lifting Allen out of his arms and sliding him into the van with Lavi. Shutting the doors after him, effectively hiding him from Kanda's view once more.

….

Lavi felt himself being laid on a stretcher before being slid back deep into the van. His right eye hurt like hell and he wasn't any closer to finding Allen. He had tried to use the limited information he had found in the database to track roughly where Allen would be in that building, but his group ended up being ambushed before he could even begin his search, setting off the alarms in the process.

He can hear another stretcher being slid back towards him, and after it stops moving, he cracks his one good eye to see who his traveling companion will be. His eye widens in shock as he take in the appearance of Allen Walker lying beside him.


	11. After the Mission is Over

Chapter 10

The next few weeks following the breakout are filled with chaos. Roughly twenty nekos were freed during that one day, most of them immediately expressing desires to be reunited with loved ones, to be able to leave the city all together and go somewhere where they can be safer, or they expressed desires to stay and help the project that helped to free them in the first place. All in all, including a still unconscious Allen, three nekos decided to stay, the rest, including all of the kittens, were carefully and secretly sent of in pairs to their intended destinations, the majority being transferred to a safer location, and ultimately, out of the city.

But none of that held any sort of interest for Kanda. His entire being is spent torn between making sure that the Baka Usagi actually does what the nurse tells him, and staying by Moyashi's side for as long as he can. The one thing that he is thankful for is that both the Usagi and Moyashi are eventually moved into the same room, making it easier for him to keep an eye on both of them.

Lavi bounces back from his injury with a grim determination to make sure it never happens again. It is obviously difficult for Lavi to get used to functioning with only one eye, but he tries to make light of the situation and the mistakes he makes while trying to return to some semblance of normality. And while he knows that he should be focused mainly on his own recovery, he often devotes his time to watching over Allen with Kanda.

…Flashback…

Once Allen is rescued, he is immediately brought to the emergency medical unit that has been set up ahead of time, knowing that there was likely to be some type of injuries sustained by the raid. Kanda refuses to leave his side, or even release him to the medical staff, but eventually they are forced to call Lenalee over to have her help convince Kanda that it would be better for Allen if he would just let him go, he could visit Allen after the medical staff was through with their examination and the proper care has being given to both of them.

At first Kanda resists, but after the reality that he can't do anything more for Allen at the moment, he reluctantly lessens his hold, and Allen is quickly swept out of his arms and into another room, out of Kanda's line of sight. He stays by the doors the entire time, waiting for the moment when he can see and hold the Moyashi again.

Eventually Allen is released from the examination room, and moved into a more private room for more specific medical attention. Kanda follows the still unconscious Allen into the new room, and after watching the medical staff exit the room, pulls a chair over to keep watch for the moment when the Moyashi would finally open his eyes.

After a couple of hours of watching and waiting, Lenalee comes in and tells Kanda to go get some sleep, when he refuses to leave the younger neko's side, she pointedly tells him that he has another friend that has also been injured during the raid, and that Kanda needs to go and at least thank him for his efforts. After all, if it weren't for Lavi, Allen wouldn't be back with them now.

Kanda begrudgingly goes to pay the Usagi a visit, but is thoroughly shocked to see the extent of his injuries. Half of his face is covered with bandages, bright red blinding and soaking into the pure white covering, his pain blatant in his one good eye, despite the positive, smiling façade he tries to present to his childhood friend. Kanda simply gives him a look that says 'Baka Usagi, didn't I tell you to be more careful'. But Lavi simply smiles back, knowing that if Kanda wasn't worrying that much about him, he shouldn't either.

Kanda and Lavi stayed staring at each other before Lavi finally asks if it was true, that they really had been able to get Allen out of that place. Kanda's look softens for a moment; that is the extent of his confirmation, but Lavi is able to interpret it easily. The two started at each other for a few more minutes before a nurse comes and shoos Kanda out so that she could take the required readings from Lavi.

Kanda turns back down the hall to Allen's room, finding Lenalee still in there, only now she's crying as she holds his limp hand in her own. She manages to garble out apologies amidst her tears, and promises to never let anything like that happen again fill the air. Her distress is so clear, that there is no doubt as to her feelings for the neko before her. She is acting like a younger sibling has been gravely injured due to some negligence on her part, despite there having been nothing that she could have done to prevent anything that happened to him.

He contemplates disrupting her and making her leave to go sob somewhere else, but he knows that she feels that she needs to do this. To apologize for something that wasn't even her fault, and give empty promises that Kanda is determined to make sure never have to be put into effect. He intends to make sure that Allen never has to face anything like that again. If all goes according to plan, Kanda even plans to get him out of the country and to one of the safe points for nekos, anything to keep him from disappearing from his life again.

Eventually Lenalee manages to wear herself out, falling asleep still holding Allen's hand despite her exhaustion. Kanda contemplates leaving like that, but instead he quickly looks around for someone to contact Komui and get him to come down there to collect his sister. It takes him less than a minute to find someone to carry out the task. In the mean time, he remains outside of the door to Allen's room, hoping to be there when Moyashi manages to open his eyes again for he feels that it will happen soon.

When Komui finally makes his way to Allen's room to collect his sister, he takes a moment to try and absorb what he's seeing. He can't help but smile at the sight before him, a sight of Allen being back with the people he belongs with, and of his sister seeming to have finally found some relief from all of the stress and grief that she inflicted on herself. After the moment ends, he enters the room and carefully separates Allen's and Lenalee's hands despite her best attempt to hold tight to Allen's, he gently picks up his sister and exits the room to find a better place for her to sleep.

As he leaves, he hands a file to Kanda; a look of dead seriousness in his eyes replacing the normal gleam of mischievousness that normally resides there. He hesitates before leaving the two nekos, but he takes one last look at Allen before turning his attention back to Kanda. "These are the results of the exam, the compiled data from The Black Ark's database on him, and the report given from the neko doctor that was helping to provide care for the duration of his stay in that place. When you read this I want you to do one thing. I want you to not act on what you read, it's a lot to absorb even for me, but I think that it will effect you differently." When he sees Kanda's confused look he sighs before continuing. "Just keep that in mind. I'll be sure to be back in the morning to see how his condition is holding out." With that, he heads out of the medical section with Lenalee, leaving Kanda alone with a sleeping Allen, and a file filled with records of everything that has happened to his Moyashi.

Kanda steps into the room, quickly occupying the chair that Lenalee has just vacated, the one closest to Allen. He takes a moment to look the Moyashi over and is disheartened upon discovering that nothing has changed. He is paler than normal, his skin seeming almost translucent. His hair is greasy and tangled, resting around his shoulders in knots. His nails are long like real claws, but rough and dirt is visible under them. His white clothes seem far to big for him, they hang limply on his frame, reveling his rather large stomach despite his ribs showing above it. His eyes are shut tight from the world, and his breathing is labored. An IV runs into his arm, trying to replenish much needed fluids, but they will take time to make any obvious effect. But the part that hurts Kanda the most is that his ears are completely flat an his tail is between his legs, wrapped around them in fear and distress.

Kanda lets his thumb ghost over Allen's Mark as it stands out so starkly from his pale skin, both admiring it, and mourning the loss of Allen's innocence to the heat. Kanda stops his motions when Allen's face scrunches up in what appears to be pain. Kanda pulls his hand back, and after a few seconds Allen's face becomes as expressionless as a mask once again.

Kanda gives the Moyashi one last look over before muttering, "Just what the hell happened to you?" He takes the younger's hand in his own just like Lenalee had. He notices when it tries to pull away, but he refuses to let that happen and gives a reassuring squeeze. The hand calms down after the squeeze and Kanda is able to return most of his attention to the file before him, though a part of his attention is still monitoring Allen for any signs of change.

The file is as descriptive as it is graphic. Everything that has happened to Allen from the time he was captured up until they rescued him is carefully documented and no detail is spared. Kanda can feel his anger rise with each passing page, but he nearly loses his remaining calm when he reads about Allen's encounters with the Noah, and even more so when he learns of the younger's rape. He stares at the page, as if trying to will it to say something different, something that will have never hurt his Moyashi. But when it fails to change, he immediately sets the file aside and moves to sit on the edge of Allen's bed. He gently and carefully pulls the younger neko to him, holding him in his lap like he often had as a kitten, only this time he mourns for Allen, and all that he has been forced to lose. A few silent tears escape, but he makes no effort to hide them, he allows them to show, for all the tears that Allen deserves to have shed for him.

He keeps Allen close despite the younger's unconscious efforts to get away, the attempts pulling at his heart even more. He now understands why his Moyashi is acting like his, but it still breaks his heart to see what has become of the young neko. Eventually the attempts for release cease, but a look of stress and discomfort never leaves Allen's face.

Once Allen seems to have calmed down, Kanda picks up the file and resumes to read of the horrors that his Moyashi was forced to endure. He reads of the Moyashi's downward spiral after his first heat, of his apparent inability to interact around others without being overcome by fear and memories of what was forced upon him. He has to force himself to continue; even though he knows that nothing good will lie ahead at this rate. He ends up stopping again when he reads the results of some of Allen's medical exams, post heat.

When he learns of Allen's pregnancy, his anger flares past any normal limits. He starts to shake with is rage of what that bastard did to his Moyashi. A growl threatens to rip from his throat at the very thought that some bastard not only had the audacity to rape Allen, but for that man, no that human to impregnate him with a litter that will only break Allen's heart, no words can explain his rage at the man that stole everything from his Allen.

He only stops his mental rampage when he hears a slight groan of pain from Allen. When he glances down he realizes that he's been holding someone so broken far too tight, and probably too close for his comfort. He eases his grip on Allen, but continues to hold him close, hoping that just being near someone who doesn't want to hut him will be enough to begin repairs on his broken spirit. Allen starts to struggle for release again, but like before, Kanda refused to let him go, even more so now that he knows of some of the horrors that the frightened Moyashi was forced to endure.

Once the two of them calm down a bit, Kanda reluctantly picks up the file, and warily reads the rest of its contents. His anger flares briefly when he learns that Allen was brought to the home of the Earl, but when he discovers Allen's relation to the neko already living there, he anger disappears, knowing that this was probably the best neko for Allen to meet at that time. That this was probably the only neko anywhere near that place who might be able to truly explain to him about what could have happened to him if he had never been rescued.

The rest of the notes and reports give him little information that he didn't already know, but there are the last medical exam results that catch his interest. The results reveal that Allen's pregnancy is progressing much faster than normal. While a normal neko pregnancy is usually about the same as a humans at nine months, the normal time for a Bearer pregnancy is between ten and eleven months so that the body can better adjust and care for the typical larger amount of kittens. The problem is that Allen's pregnancy is progressing too quickly and even though his is less than three months along, he is showing signs of development that should only appear just past the six month mark, and if all progresses as it is, the litter could be birthed within the next couple of months, putting extra strain on their carrier.

At first, Kanda is utterly repulsed by the thought of Allen carrying the bastard litter for that long, especially if they are already doomed, but at the same time, he is proud of his Moyashi for being able to carry so many for this long, despite everything that's been happening to him. But above all, he's just glad that Allen won't be forced into the Breeding Program now that they know that he can carry a litter. That would guarantee a permanent separation for the two of them, and that is something that Kanda is prepared to fight against with everything that he has.

After he manages to calm down yet again, he sets the file aside and pulls the Moyashi just a little closer, holding him and quietly purring at him, trying to reassure him, despite his unconscious state. Despite the time he's already spent with the younger neko, Kanda stays like this with Allen all through the night, never letting the younger neko slip from his hold, and making sure to watch out for the broken spirit, and protect and heal it as best as he can.

The following morning, a nurse comes in to check up on Allen, but she pauses for a moment when she sees Kanda curled up with Allen pulled next to him. She knew that the two of them would be in here, but she had expected Allen to still be in the same place that he was left, and that Kanda would most likely be asleep in the chair next to the bed. She also expected Kanda to be rather agitated and fierce after reading through the files, but the two seem much calmer than she expected. The sight brings a small ray of hope and while she really doesn't want to pull them apart, she knows it must be done.

She carefully reaches over the bed to wake Kanda, making sure that she is still on the other side of the bed in the event that he should be violent after being awakened. He wakes within moments of her touching him, and after immediately looking around and realizing the lack of danger, he turns towards her. She apologizes for waking him, but insists that he is to leave so that she can perform her duties. When he looks like he's about to refuse, she reminds him that she has the authority to make sure that he will not be allowed back in the room if he should choose to go against her.

He sighs, and reluctantly untangles himself from the Moyashi and gathers up the files before giving him one last look upon leaving the room. Once he is out of the room, the nurse shuts the door behind him. He contemplates what to do until he's allowed back in, but in the end, the need of food and a shower outweighed his desire to stay. He doesn't leave immediately, a fear that the Moyashi will disappear before he can return runs rampant in is consciousness before he is forced to shake the thought from his mind and take care of his own needs for a moment.

After fulfilling his own needs, Kanda heads back to Allen's room, anxious to prove his fears to be unfounded, only to find the door still shut, only now it is locked. He figures that if the door is locked, then his Moyashi is still in there, so he resolves to wait to be let in again. It doesn't take too long before he glares at the offending door, resolving to leave for a while longer and then return shortly. He heads off to see if Lavi's room is locked as well, and if its open, stop by for a few minutes before going back to wait to see the Moyashi.

He isn't even near Lavi's room when he starts to hear the laughter of the redhead echoing through the halls. He reluctantly follows the sound to its source, and a room full of people being pulled in by Lavi's bright attitude. Lavi is still stuck in his bed, but the nurse, doctor, and respective well-wishers line the room, adding to the brightness, as his positive attitude seems to be infecting them all with better attitudes.

Kanda watches for a moment before stepping into the room, his appearance abruptly halting the good mood. Many of the well-wishers excuse themselves, and the doctor and nurse move on to their next respective patients. Lavi gives Kanda a curious look before a file is dropped in his lap. Kanda goes to leave the room, but a quiet voice stops him.

"They say I'll be moving to a different room soon. Since there wasn't too many of us injured, I'm trying to get permission to room with Allen. I know that he's in a bad way, and I'm guessing that this file will help to fill in some of the blanks, but I just want to be able to see him smile again. Is that too much to ask?" His single bright green eye searches Kanda for any sort of answer to ease his wondering.

Kanda looks away and heads towards the door once again, only he stops and puts one hand on the frame. "Just make sure that no matter what you are going to read, make sure that no one else ever sees that, especially Lenalee." With that he heads back to wait to reenter the Moyashi's room.

When he arrives at the room, he sees that the door is still closed, but someone is already waiting there. Kanda crosses the hall to lean against the wall, opposite of Alma who simply continues to look at the floor. Neither of them speaks, but the air is visible tense around them.

Eventually it is Alma that breaks the silence. "So how is he? I heard that he was unconscious when you found him. With everything that's happened to him, I'm not surprised, but do you know why? Why is he in such bad condition?"

Kanda refuses to look at Alma, but chooses to stare at the floor like him. "He's stable now, or at least he was when I left. He ended up unconscious when he started to have false contractions, the stress was just too much, and with the condition the rest of his body is in, I guess he just doesn't have the strength to wake up yet."

"False contractions? You mean someone actually mated with him and was successful enough to produce a litter already? I find it hard to believe that they didn't ship him off to the Breading Program if that's the case." Alma raises his eyes to try and reach Kanda's. "There's something you're leaving out isn't there? Don't you dare try to hide it! I know you better than anyone else, and I can see through your lies."

Kanda raises his eyes to meet Alma's. "He didn't mate with anyone by choice! A fucking human raped him and left him to carry his bastard litter! Of course they couldn't bring him to the Breading Program like that! If the media caught wind of it, there would be a scandal the rich politicians who's pockets pay for their facilities would be forced to pull their funding, leaving the Program in a rather dire situation." His glare hardens as he stares at Alma. "Don't you dare try to speak of this casually, they've stolen that neko's innocence and left him to pick up the pieces."

The ferocity of Kanda's speech halts any comeback or retaliation Alma was planning to make. He is speechless for a moment, but is quick to collect himself. And while he flounders for words to defend himself, the door the Allen's room opens and the nurse hurries down the hall, leaving the room open to the two of them.

Kanda enters first, leaving Alma in his wake. The sight before him erases all thoughts of his previous anger towards Alma. It is evident as to why the nurse was in the room so long, she was busy taking care of Allen and trying to restore him to some normality. His hair has been cut back to being just slightly longer than jaw length, and it is now much cleaner and completely combed out. He has obviously been given a bath as the dirt and smoke smudges have been cleaned off and new, clean clothes that actually fit him are in place. His nails have been trimmed down to a more normal, smoother, and less threatening length. The overall effect makes Allen seem much healthier and more at peace.

Kanda wastes no time in claiming the chair, and after seeing that their 'discussion' is over, Alma takes a spot next to Kanda on the floor. The two of them are only there for a few minutes in uncomfortable silence before a loud voice carries through the door.

A nurse enters with a rather loud redhead in tow. The redhead look up and upon seeing Allen his smile fades. But he escapes from his nurse and makes his way over to Allen's bed. Once he makes himself situated at the foot of the bed, he turns to the Moyashi and starts talking to him, telling him everything that has happed to him since they last met.

…End Flashback…

Allen is confused as to what is happening to him. One second he is intense pain and the next is like that pain never existed.

He can feel himself floating through what seems to be nothing, but yet is still substantial.

He can hear snatches and garbles of things happening around him, but he can't latch on to a single voice or follow any of the sounds for more than a second.

He tries to open his eyes, to at least try to see what his happening around him, but he knows that he must be dreaming when he is greeted with an image of Kanda, a grim determination on his face as he carries him through somewhere that is out of focus.

His eyes snap shut, the image too difficult to handle since there is way for it to be true. Kanda disappeared many years ago, and now the he too has been kidnapped, there is little to no chance of ever seeing each other again.

He lets himself float back into unconsciousness, not wanting to have to face reality just yet.

After what seems like no time at all, more voices begin to surround him, some seemingly familiar, and other completely foreign. Allen tries to follow the familiar voices, but they seem to slip out of his grip.

He begins to lose hope of being able to deny himself to reality when a new voice is heard. This one is familiar, and seems to be making some sense, even if it isn't very clear. He tries to follow what the voice is saying, but he struggles to keep up, and eventually he grows frustrated.

He forces himself to focus and open his eyes to a sight he never thought that he would see.


	12. The Pond

Chapter 11

Kanda notices the second that Allen's eyes begin to open. Hope and relief replacing the anger that has been raging, begging to be released upon the Moyashi's tormentors. With each growing sliver of silver, everything else at the moment disappears, all except for those glowing, shimmering pool of liquid metal.

He freezes when the younger neko's eyes are fully revealed. Those pools that he has lost himself in so many times before are now flat, dead, as their light and vitality has vanished. Those eyes stare blankly ahead, not completely seeing anything, but still managing to take in everything.

He wants to pull away from those eyes, to be able to look back and see them glittering with life once again, but try as he might, those dead eyes refuse to let him escape from the truth.

Someone has left his Moyashi broken, and no amount of effort will truly make him be the same carefree kitten he once was. He's been forced to grow up in a very short period of time, even though it is of no fault of his own. His Moyashi isn't completely dead, but he will never truly be Kanda's Moyashi ever again. Too much has happened for that to even be considered a possibility.

Kanda slowly reaches out and brushes the few stray hairs from Allen's face. Noticing the grimace etching the younger's features with the contact, his heart breaks just a little more, knowing that the Moyashi is even afraid of his touch. The moment that contact is broken, the expressionless mask returns, hardening Kanda's heart towards the bastards that dared do this, even more.

He doesn't notice the silence that has filled the room ever since Allen's eyes opened, yet he takes notice of it when he leaves. He wants to turn back, but he knows that he can't handle seeing those soulless eyes staring at nothing, not when they should be full of life and laughter. But even as he leaves the room, feeling the eyes of the others following him, he knows that there is one pair not following. And that pair is the only one that Kanda truly cares about right now.

….

Once he manages to pry his eyes open, Allen knows that he is still dreaming, after all, the sight before him is no longer possible. Even though seeing something like this has plagued most of his waking thoughts, having it manifest itself so vividly simply for a dream is cruel.

He can see Lavi at the foot of his bed, leaning over to get a better look at him. The redhead seems to be silent, and for some reason, half of his face is covered in bandages. Lenalee is just behind Lavi, tears seeming to dance in her eyes as she too continues to stare at him. Just out of the corner of his eye, he can see a glimpse of Alma, a look of shock etched in his features, yet at the same time, a smile is quirking at his mouth.

All of it seems like it might be possible, not very likely, but still possible. That is, until Allen feels a hand pushing his hair out of his face. When he turns to see who it is, he knows without a doubt that he is dreaming a very cruel dream indeed. Before his eyes is a nearly perfect replication of what Allen remembers Kanda to look like. There are some subtle differences from his memory, but there is no mistaking that nearly black hair that always has a blue sheen to it, or those eye such a deep blue, that even the depths of the ocean present no competition. This version of Kanda also sports a very tired look, dark smudges appear under his eyes, and he leans forward as if in defeat of something. Allen knows this is only a dream, but he wants to reach out, just to try to touch this apparition and prove to himself once and for all, that this isn't real, that his Kanda is only a figment of his imagination. But he knows better than to reach out, it will only make the image disappear faster, taking more of his broken heart with it.

Allen flinches away from the sudden touch, knowing that this too isn't real. To have nearly everyone he's ever cared about all together, in the same place, at the same time, it's just and impossibility. Too many things have happened for this to ever be a reality. Allen hasn't seen Lavi since the day that Sheryl came to take him to the House of Noah, he hasn't even seen Lenalee in years, especially not after she moved. Then there is Komui standing in the corner watching with what appears to be a sad interest. And Alma has been listed as missing, so why would he suddenly be here of all places, why not somewhere where he can truly be free, like he wants to be. And Kanda, Allen doesn't even know where Kanda is, much less what he looks like now, or if he's even still alive for that matter. Just too many impossibilities in one place to have a chance at being real.

But Allen figures that even if it really is only a dream, he might as well enjoy it. He goes to look at Kanda again, knowing that even as a dream, this is still one of the few chances that he has to see the older neko, something he has been wanting to do ever since Kanda was first kidnapped all those years ago. When he goes to turn to look at is long lost friend, he is slightly taken aback when he sees his dream image of Kanda stand and making to leave the room. Allen looks away, knowing that he won't be able to handle the sight, even if it is only a dream leaving him.

Since Kanda is leaving him, he turns his attention back to the rest of the people in his dream, all of whom seem to be watching the dream Kanda leave the room with varying degrees of curiosity and sadness written across their features. They watch him for a moment before turning their attention back to Allen.

He can see that Lavi is trying to say something to him, a semi-forced smile upon his face, but no matter what he says, Allen can't understand him. It's almost like Lavi is on the other side of a long tunnel and the sound has become distorted and irregular, losing it's meaning. Allen tries his best to concentrate and understand Lavi, but all he hears is unconnected and seemingly unimportant garble.

The amount of energy he expends trying to focus on Lavi's words soon becomes too much for him, and he can feel himself becoming very exhausted by the effort, but he fights against this feeling, not wanting this dream to end. He is vaguely aware of a nurse like figure just inside the door, telling the occupants something that is again, lost to Allen, but still must be important. The dream figures of his friends look despairingly back at him, before one by one, they all leave the room.

After a few moments, and some backwards glances, Allen is left completely alone with this new dream nurse who starts to write something down on her clipboard. He pays her little attention, after all, this is just a dream about to end, and soon she too will disappear along with the rest of his friends.

He lets his mind begin to drift again. The images of this dream becoming distant and unfocused as he continues to fight the inevitable end. He smiles to himself thinking that at least he got to see his friends one last time, even if it was truly only in a dream. He takes some comfort in this, knowing that even if it was only a dream, at least he now has something new to look back on. He eventually lets his weariness overcome him, as he drifts off to the next dream, hoping that it will be as nice as this last one.

….

Later that night, Kanda finds himself, restlessly wondering through the halls of the White Ark. He doesn't really pay any attention to where he's going; his mind is too wrapped within itself to truly care. He is having a very hard time coming to terms with all that has happened to his little Moyashi. To think that such a small and innocent kitten was forced to go through all of that, only to have his mind be forced completely into himself once he finally does find himself in a safe place.

Kanda can understand why the Moyashi is doing that. After all, he's been forced to endure so much pain, that it will take him a while to truly realize that he is in a safe place. The realization that he might never truly ever feel even a little safe here unsettles Kanda. It may be a matter of days, weeks, or even years before he can finally accept the truth of his safety, but Kanda plans to be there for him every step of the way, no matter how long it takes.

Eventually Kanda decides to find out just where he is and looks up to find himself just outside of the Moyashi's door. He contemplates entering just for a minute, but at the same time, not wanting to have to see those empty eyes again, but he knows that he needs to get used to that sight if he is to be of any help at all for Allen. He opens the door as quietly as possible, trying not to disturb the Moyashi inside. He peaks though the crack in the door, before opening it even wider to find a sight that he had hoped he would never find here. The room is completely empty with no Allen to be found.

He races from the room, running towards the Records desk. He quickly asks if the Moyashi has been moved to another room and when he receives no response, he alerts them to the absence of Allen. They run off to the room to confirm this for themselves, and upon finding the room empty, they start an alarm blaring throughout the White Ark.

In a matter of seconds, people are running up to the Records desk to find out what has happened. When they are informed of Allen's disappearance, a massive search begins. People begin to organize into groups and set off in all directions looking for the young neko.

Lavi and Lenalee appear just after the first group has left. Upon discovering what has happened, they go and inspect the room themselves, and upon finding nothing out of place besides the missing Moyashi, they set off together to find their lost friend.

Before he sets off with the others, Kanda stops for a moment considering what he already knows and what he assumes the Moyashi knows, anything to help bring the Moyashi back to the people who can help him and truly care about him. He knows that Allen is still fairly weak from his recent experiences and thus won't be able to have gone very far, he won't know where he is and will probably get lost and confused very easily meaning that he could be pretty much anywhere, and the Moyashi will probably try to go outside, or at least some place quiet and open to try to figure out just where he is. Kanda thinks for a moment on these things before heading off to the one place that he is pretty sure that the Moyashi might have gone.

He runs though the levels of the White Ark, heading for his destination at the very center of the vast complex. The only problem is that this location is only accessible through the lower floors, where as the medical units takes up most of the middle levels. This means that while this is more likely where Allen would go, but it also means that it would be very easy for him to get lost on his way there.

He finally makes it down to the fifth floor before using one of the access points to jump into the nearest tree and make his way down to the ground level from there. He makes his way to the floor of the indoor park before stopping for a moment to see where exactly he ended up.

He is in the middle of what would appear to be a clearing in a forest. Trees reach up through the levels towards the giant skylight overhead, making it seem as though it truly is exposed to the natural elements. There are pathways made with misshapen stones but there is plenty of evidence where people tend to stray from the path and into the greenery. Flowers, smaller trees, and bushes dot the indoor landscape, hiding most of the artificial elements that make this room possible.

Kanda continues down the path towards the one area that he thinks that he will find the Moyashi. He ends up in one of the most tranquil spots in the entirety of the White Ark. A small waterfall cascades through the trees and into a small pond, the constantly moving water provides a home for two coy fish. It is by this pond that he finds the Moyashi staring at the one black and one white fish. He gaze is still not completely seeing, but he does seem a bit more aware of himself than before. He is leaning against the sign telling people not to disturb the fish with his feet dangling over the edge of the pond.

Allen seems to be completely relaxed despite probably feeling completely lost. Kanda stares at the sight in front of him, never expecting to ever see something quite like this, but treasuring it all the same. The moonlight coming in from the skylight seems to reflect off of his white hair and clothing, making it seem like his is some type of mystical guardian of the forest. Kanda does not wish to disturb such a scene, but he slowly makes his way over to Allen, careful not to make too much noise and disturb the younger neko. Allen seems not to notice as the older sits beside him, but continues to stare into the depths of the pond.

They stay like that for a while, not moving or saying anything, but simply being there. Eventually Kanda feels Allen rest his head on his shoulder. He looks down and is surprised to find a slight spark in the Moyashi's gaze. Nothing seems to have sparked this light, and it is nothing even close to what it once was, but it is there all the same. And the fact that Allen isn't shaking or trying to get away surprises him even further, but he doesn't wish for that reaction to return to the younger neko either. Slowly, Allen looks up at Kanda and gives a slight smile. "I've missed you. Even if this is only a dream, I've still missed you."

Kanda is frozen at those words. He is rather gratified to know that the Moyashi has missed him, but to find out that he thinks that all of this is only a dream, that hurts Kanda more than he'd ever care to admit. He looks into those silver eyes, seeing the sadness in their depths with the though of this only being a dream. He takes a risk and pulls the younger close to him, not wanting those eyes to be so sad.

The two of them stay like that long after the younger neko drifts off into sleep once again, only this time he sleeps in the arms of the one he has searched for, for so long. Kanda holds Allen close to himself, not wanting this moment to end, knowing that as soon as Allen wakes, he will revert back into his shell, only this time, no one will be able to say just how long he will stay there.

As the sun begins to make itself known to the little area of greenery, footsteps pound through the lowest level, disturbing the tranquility that had been there a moment ago. Kanda turns to face the oncoming people, but is careful not to shift too much and wake the sleeping Moyashi. Kanda can see a few lights dancing between the trees as the group comes closer, and eventually one light breaks through landing on him and the Moyashi.

Alma and Lavi approach cautiously, despite Kanda trying to shoot them a glance telling them to leave. They ignore him, but when they get close enough to see Allen resting on Kanda, they both turn off their lights, not quite believing the sight before them. Lavi stares at the pair just a little longer before his usual goofy grin appears and he flashes Kanda two thumbs up before silently retreating. But never letting the sight before his eyes escape before they are swallowed up in the little remaining darkness.

Alma stays watching the sight before him with mixed emotions. On one hand it is perfect opportunity to finally be able to say what he has been wanting to for so long, but at the same time, if he says something now, it might do more damage than good. He stares at the pair, contemplating what to do before he takes it upon himself to let these feelings be known once and for all, especially since that baka usagi is finally gone. He closes the distance over to Kanda and Allen and sits on the other side of Allen so that he can face Kanda while he talks.

Kanda watches him for a moment, an eyebrow raised in question, but Alma doesn't reply yet, instead he opts to shift the Moyashi away from Kanda and into his own lap. Somehow Allen manages to stay asleep despite the movement. But seeing this Kanda's entire being hardens, his ears pin themselves back and his tail stills as he sees Alma grinning with his head on top of Allen's.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Venom laces Kanda's words, each one meant to sting the neko holding his Moyashi.

A sly grin crosses Alma's face. "I'm just giving little Allen here a little bit of familiarity. After all, as far as we know, he doesn't know that you're really here, so wouldn't it make more sense for him to wake up in the arms of someone who's more likely to have actually found him? After all, we did grow rather, close, while you were off who knows where. And unlike you, I was able to give him comfort where and when you couldn't."

Kanda's glare darkens. "Do you honestly think that I spent all of my time doing nothing? Do you think that all those escapes attempts from that accursed Black Ark were just for fun? Of course not! I did everything I could to get out of that place and back to him. If I had known that he was going to be brought there, don't you think that I would have acted sooner!" Rage blazes from Kanda's being, all because of Alma's seemingly pointless and accusing questions.

Alma scoots closer to Kanda, the Moyashi now being the only thing separating the two of them. "But you want to know what irks me the most? All you and Allen ever talk about is each other. I think I've spent enough time with the two of you to say this. You don't deserve each other."

Shock and rage is written across Kanda's face, and it elevates when he sees Alma lean his head down so that he gives Allen a rather extended kiss on his sickly pale lips. Kanda stares for a moment, completely in shock at Alma's forwardness. However, his staring is interrupted as suddenly he finds Alma's lips upon his own, brushing and gently pulling him in deeper.

Kanda breaks off the kiss, his eyes wide with confusion and fear. He tries to take the Moyashi back from Alma, but the older neko prevents it. He watches Kanda with an amused expression. "What? Did you honestly think that after all of that time together, I would simply just let you run off with Allen once you found him? I'll admit that once I met Allen I was a bit put off by his sense of loyalty to you, but at the same time, I admired it. Eventually I accepted that I could love the both of you, though you will always be my first love between the two of you."

He leans in to give Kanda another kiss, but Kanda pulls away, using the opportunity to pull the Moyashi back to himself, a look of utter possessiveness etched in his features. Alma gives him an amused look. "That's alright love, I understand that you need time to process this, but remember that my love is not just for you, but the love for the two of you will still be there. Just let me know when you are ready to accept this." A growl emanates from Kanda's throat, sending the threatening sound towards Alma, but only just so he can hear it, but staying quiet enough not to wake the Moyashi.

This earns a small smile of approval from Alma. "You can growl all you like, but it won't change my feelings. After all, who wouldn't be attracted to you, especially if they knew as much about you as I do. And who wouldn't love little Allen, so fragile and pure in his ambitions. The two of you are perfect. I don't think that I could have picked a better pair to love."

He leans in to give Allen another kiss, but stops when Kanda's growl deepens. "Keep your filthy mouth to yourself and away from us, especially Allen. I don't know what you think you are doing, but I know I don't have the same type of feelings for you as you do for me, and I'm sure that the Moyashi feels the same. Besides, what do you mean that you know me better than most? There are only two people who I can honestly say that they know me, and you're not one of them. We knew each other for a brief period of time, enough to meet each other, but not truly know anything about the other. We were partners in finding escape routes out of that hell hole, but nothing more."

Alma continues to smirk. "Whatever you save love. I can leave you and your opinions be for now, to let you get used to the idea of the three of us." With that Alma gives Kanda one last loving look, and Allen, a brush on his jaw with the back of his hand. He leaves the area with Kanda's eyes burning a hole in the back of his head, but not really caring, feeling that Kanda will come around to the idea of the three of them together, soon enough.

Kanda watches Alma's retreating form, praying that he will get it through his thick head that Kanda doesn't see him like that, more like a brother, but no where near a lover. And that idea that another, Alma or not, would love the Moyashi, and want to be his mate, drives Kanda to glare even more after Alma. And the very thought of the three of them together, like that, is just too much for Kanda, the very idea of having to share the Moyashi with another is far to unpleasant to even give a moments thought.

He shakes his head, trying to clear away those thoughts, after all, they might bother him, but in the end, nothing will ever come from them except needless worry. Just the thought of anything like that is just absurd.

As the sun continues to make it's presence known, Allen begins to stir in his sleep. Kanda smiles at the familiar movement, recalling how the Moyashi has always done this before waking, even since he was just a few months old. Knowing that he doesn't have too long before Allen will wake; he picks up the younger neko so that the other can still rest his head on the elder's shoulders, without being moved around too much. With his arms helping to hold Allen up close to his knees and feeling the slightly protruding stomach of the younger rub against him as he walks.

Feeling this roundness reminds Kanda that no matter what he can do for the Moyashi, there is still more physical and mental pain in the future because of this bastard litter. He's pretty sure that Allen has already started to feel protective and parental to these unborn kittens, but he knows that that attachment will only make it worse for Allen in the long run.

…...

Allen feels the heaviness that comes with waking from a deep sleep begin to lift. He wishes that the sleep wouldn't leave, simply because two of his dreams had had Kanda in them, and even though it's only in a dream, he wants nothing but to see Kanda again.

He can tell that he's being carried somewhere, but that's not too uncommon, especially since Lulubell tends to like to have him have his medical exams early in the morning, before anyone else is even awake, including himself. He hope that she won't take too long, so that he can go back to his dream, even though it was too good to be real, it was still very inviting.

Allen leans into the arms holding him, he's not quite sure why, but this person seems very familiar. Maybe it's because only one person has ever carried him quite like this, or maybe it's because he can tell just by the scent of the person that they are a neko, just like him.

For just a moment, it almost seems like it is Kanda carrying him, even the scent is slightly like that of his lost friend, but at the same time, he doesn't want to open his eyes, knowing that if he does, he won't be able to handle the thought of being held like that by anyone other than Kanda. He decides to indulge in his fantasy, just this once, and imagine that it really is Kanda carrying him like he used to all those many, many years ago.

However, his fantasy is interrupted when he feels something in his stomach move. He thinks nothing of it for a second, but pays closer attention to where the kittens are developing. About a minute later he feels the same type of movement again, only this time in slightly different spot.

His eyes snap open, quickly taking in the growing area of his stomach, almost as if he expects to see his stomach physically move with each internal movement. When nothing happens, he lets his excitement fall and decides to at least get a glimpse of whoever is carrying him.

When his eyes see the dark black hair with a blue sheen, his spirits fall, knowing that this won't be Kanda; no matter much he wishes it to be true. He dares another glance, only this time making it past the familiar color of hair.

As Allen's eyes meet the deep sapphire depths, time seems to stop. Looking into the eyes of the one he's searched for, he knows without a doubt that this is no illusion, that he is indeed looking into the eyes of the one he truly loves.


	13. Sitting in the Rain

Chapter 12

Allen takes a minute to stare into those sapphire depths, trying to take in everything that is Kanda, everything uniquely him and only him, all at once. His scent, his movement, how deep blue his eyes truly are, and simply how he looks now. To really know that this is real, that Kanda is in fact in front of him, holding him close like he used to when they were younger. He really does know this to be true, but he can't bring himself to believe that it is true.

If Kanda is holding him, then that must mean that either Kanda has been brought back to the Black Ark, or that somehow, they were able to get him away from that place. He hopes that's the latter, that he is finally away from those dreadful people. But he truly doesn't care, either way, by now Kanda must know everything that has happened to him. How dirty and worthless he really is, and yet for some unknown Kanda is allowing himself to hold such undeserving filth.

Why? Why would Kanda do something like that? Why would he bring himself down to that level to associate with such dirt? Allen is thoroughly confused. The Kanda he knew couldn't stand humans who would just give themselves away to people who held no meaning to them, so why wouldn't his situation be any different? After all, Allen is no longer a virgin, he no longer could hold his head high around others because he knows that all he is now, is a common whore.

Shame and fear wash over Allen in waves as the situation begins to finally sink in. He doesn't deserve any kind of treatment like this, not by someone so caring, someone he loves, and who has known him for most of his life. He's filthy inside and out, a nobody who deserves not even a single kindness due to the severity of his actions, and ultimately the results of his actions.

It takes all of his will power, but he is finally able to look away from those beautiful, pure bottomless depths. He knows that he is completely unworthy of the person holding him, no matter how much he wants to be held by him, so close, but yet because of his worthlessness, so far away.

Allen takes on last lingering look at Kanda, trying to memorize everything about this beautiful creature before him one more time, knowing that it is not meant to be, otherwise it would be Kanda's kittens he is carrying, not the small lives that will never live to see what life can truly be like; what it is to love, and what it is cry.

He knows what will happen to them and because of that, he has cried all of his tears for them many weeks ago, but the reality of their impending demise still haunts him. He knows what will happen, he knows that all of his care and love for them is useless, but he still can't bring himself to love them any less because of it.

And that is why, for his own sanity and to escape the displeased and disgusted looks he is sure to receive from the one he loves, Allen manages to wiggle his way out of Kanda's arms and before Kanda can make a move to stop him, takes off down the hall, not daring to look back, else he lose his resolve and end up tainting the older neko.

….

When Kanda is suddenly greeted with those liquid sliver depths that he's longed for for so many long years, he can't help but stare back for a moment, trying to figure out why this liquid metal has finally come back to him. He halts his staring when he notices that something is very off with the clarity of the sliver, too much pain is written there, threating to overcome any lingering familiarities with the pure liquid metal that they once were.

He chances a look at the face of the neko with the haunted silver eyes, hoping that the pain is only haunting his eyes and not the rest of him. He finds that shame is written upon the younger neko's features, a sight that Kanda can't even begin to comprehend. What would the Moyashi have to be ashamed about? It's not his fault that either of them was kidnapped, or that they ended up at that place. And clearly him being pregnant certainly wasn't his fault; he's too young and small to overcome anyone who would possibly try to take him.

An internal debate suddenly seems to rage across the younger's features for a moment, but it ends quickly and that expressionless mask that Kanda has come to despise returns once more. Even though his eyes are no longer flat like before, this is still not the Allen that Kanda used to know. The neko before him is scared beyond belief, and for some unknown reason, carries a lot of self blame, a potentially dangerous situation for the younger neko if he lets it continue for too long.

Kanda feels the younger start to wiggle out of his grasp. Instinctually, He tightens his hold for a moment, hoping to calm the younger down, or at least give him a little reassurance, but it only seems to make the smaller struggle even harder. He really doesn't want to let the Moyashi go. Even if this really isn't the same Moyashi that he used to know, he is still his Moyashi, and no one else is allowed to have him for themselves.

Eventually he loosens his grip just enough for the younger to slip out of his grasp, hoping that maybe the Moyashi will calm down, even just a little bit and relax for a moment before his panic becomes too bad. However, the moment he does loosen his hold, the little white neko slips out of his grasp, running down the hall as if the hounds of hell are at his heels.

Kanda is completely stunned for a moment, trying to figure out just what he did to make his Moyashi react like that. Was it that his trying to hold on to him making him that uncomfortable, or could it be that he is still resenting human touch after being raped? What was it? Was it something that Kanda can fix, or is it something that the Moyashi will need to get over on his own?

After a moment of contemplating this, he suddenly realizes that Allen doesn't know where anything is in the building, and will probably end up lost and possibly hurting himself if he's still in the same frame of mind for too. He sets off running down the same hall that he'd last seen Allen go down, hoping that he will be able to find the younger neko before he can manage to get himself too lost.

He runs through the vast number of hallways as quickly as possible, trying to figure out where Allen could have possibly gone. A few times when he starts to become too desperate, he actually stops and asks a few people if they've seen Allen come by. But it seems that no one can tell him anything about the whereabouts of his Moyashi.

Eventually Kanda tries looking around the medical wing to see if maybe someone has found him since he started looking, and was smart enough to turn him back in to the medical staff. He checks Lavi and Allen's room, and when he finds it still empty, he goes to ask one of the nurses at the Records desk to see if he's in a different room or in an examination. When the nurse at the Records desk can tell him nothing, he goes off to ask the only other person he can think of that might have an inkling as to where the Moyashi might have hidden himself.

It doesn't take too long before Kanda finds himself across a table from the redheaded Usagi that likes to annoy him to no end. And when Kanda explains that Allen went missing in the White Ark again, Lavi simply stares at him. There is a moment of silence before Lavi seem to have collected the majority of what Kanda has been trying to tell him.

"Well if I was him I'd probably try to go to the one place here that would make me the most comfortable and the place that I'm most familiar with. However, Allen doesn't know anything about this place, where anything is, after all he's pretty much been completely oblivious since arriving here, so my guess is that he'll keep running and hiding until he finds somewhere where he feels at least a little safe. Where that will be, I haven't a clue, but I'm sure we'll find it eventually, that or eventually he'll come out of hiding all on his own.

"In the mean time, the best thing we can do is give him some space and time for now. After all, he's probably feeling very overwhelmed and will need some time to adjust and really get a grasp on what is going on around him. If we try to force him too much, he'll probably just try to retreat into himself again." He sees Kanda frowning at this. "Look, I'm not saying that we leave him alone forever, or that we completely disappear away from him for a while, all I'm saying is that we need to approach him as like he's a small scared animal, which is pretty much his state of mind anyway. We need to approach him on his terms, not ours. Too much and we might just end up pushing him away."

Kanda gives Lavi a slight glare. "And just pray tell did you figure all of this out? Please don't tell me you're interested in the Moyashi too. And why exactly am I supposed to treat him like a small animal again?"

Lavi waves off the glare. "I actually figured this out a long time ago. Especially right after Allen was kidnapped, Panda and I talked a lot about what Allen might be like when we found him, and we figured that this might be a possibility. We didn't really consider that it would be quite this bad, but I still tried to keep it in mind for when we found him. Basically, right now he doesn't know where he is or what's going on, he's pregnant which will make him more defensive, and he's still probably scared that someone will try to attack him again. That's why you need to treat him like the small wounded animal he currently is.

"Now on another completely separate note, just why in the hell do you think that I'm attracted to Allen? He's a good kid, cute too, but I'm not into that whole interspecies, personal relationship thing. To me, he's like my kid bother, and I'll always be the big bother there to look after him and be there for him when he needs it. Nothing more and nothing less. He's part of my family, and I'll never see him as anything beyond that. Now, what do you mean by 'too'? Who was trying to challenge you for Allen?"

Kanda just rolls his eyes, he lowers his head into his hands before mumbling out something about Alma and him being an insensitive bastard. Eventually his mumblings become very incoherent, but every once in a while, Lavi is able to pick out a word or two and after an hour or so, roughly figure out what transpired between the three of them.

Once Kanda has quieted down, and his head is now lying completely on the table, a look of defeat across his features, Lavi makes his opinion known. "To me it sounds like you and Allen both have a rival for one another. Now I can't tell you what to or not to do, but I can tell you that you need to make your intentions and feelings clear to both of them if you want this to stay or go away. I'm pretty sure that Allen won't be up for a threesome, and I highly doubt that he'd want to share you. But some of that is up to you too. But seeing as you've never told Allen your feelings for him, he might not return them, that or after everything that's happened to the poor kid, he might not feel like he can love anyone, at least for a long time. So yeah, you're pretty much stuck for now, or at least until Allen returns your feelings."

Kanda looks up at him from the table. "That's probably one of the most depressing and confusing things you've ever told me." He sighs, letting it linger for a moment. "I guess it's too late and too soon to go looking for the Moyashi again. I guess I'll go turn in for the night."

"Are you going back to stay with Komui and Lenalee like you have been for the last few months? Or are you finally going to move back into your room?" When he gets no response from the neko he tries again. "You know, you could always go and stay the night in Allen's room, just in case he manages to find his way back. That way you'll be the first to know."

Kanda contemplates this for a moment before leaving the room and Lavi behind. Eventually he stops for a moment outside the door to his own room, a room which he has yet to manage to sleep in. He steps inside before grabbing the blanket off of the bed and heading for the door again.

His next stop is the Moyashi's room. He wonders for a moment if a nurse will kick him out for sleeping here, but he decides that he doesn't really care. He once again takes up residence in the chair closest to the bed, making sure to wrap himself in the blanket. He struggles to sleep for a while, but the thought of being able to be there for Allen when he manages to make his way back to this room allows him to drift off into a light dreamless slumber.

….

Allen runs for as long as he can, but before too long he starts to feel his fatigue and the strain on his bulging stomach become too much. With his body forcing him to slow down, he is much more cautious with how he proceeds. Several times he has to duck into a room, or behind a door to avoid being seen by other people walking purposefully to their intended destinations.

All of the walking and dodging, makes Allen hopelessly lost, and though he still wishes to remain unseen and left alone, he still can't help but want to stop one of those occasional people he sees and ask them where he is, or at least for directions to somewhere, anywhere in this confusing building. But no matter how much he wants to ask, he can't bring himself to taint others with his presence.

After what seems like hours of endless wandering, Allen finds himself in the doorway to a room that seems vaguely familiar, but completely impossible at the same time. Beyond the door is what appears to be a room that is outdoors, but yet somehow manages to remain contained indoors. He can't believe his eyes, but it even appears to be raining in the not-outdoor outdoor room. Pouring actually, each raindrop glistening as it reflects light from the outside world on its fall to nourish the ground and everything living there.

He takes a hesitant step into this wonderland, marveling at the feeling of wet grass between his toes, and the soft earth molding briefly around each bare foot that meets it for any period of time. He slowly makes his way to the center of this room, a large redwood whose branches reach beyond his line of sight and throughout the room. He reaches out and carefully touches the tree, slightly surprised to find that despite the rain, it is slightly warm to the touch.

Running his hand delicately along the bark of the massive tree, he winds his way through the branches until he finally stops on a branch where he can sit and lean back against the ancient tree, while still being able to feel the rain on his face. The warmth of the tree, and the coolness of the rain help to sooth his aches and pains, as well as help him to calm down and collect himself.

He lets the comfort of the tree and rain drown out most of his thoughts, lest they become too chaotic and return back to one of the two issues he really doesn't want to have to face right now, his rape and thus his litter, or that of the breathtaking and confusing Kanda Yuu. He lets the pounding of the rain on the leaves around him drown out these unwanted thoughts and let him drift into a blissful, thoughtless oblivion.

So far gone is his awareness, he doesn't even notice when another neko sets herself on the branch above him, staring down at him for a good half hour. This new neko just stares at him, never moving, but also never looking away. Eventually her brows begin to knit together and she hisses out "And just who are you and what do you think that you're doing in my tree?"

Allen is startled out of his oblivious bliss, only to find this rather annoyed neko staring at him. He immediately looks away and begins to pull himself off of the mighty tree, hoping to not anger her any further.

The female neko just watches his attempts to leave before sighing. "You know, you don't have to leave. I just want a name and why you are sitting in the rain, in my tree." Seeing Allen stop, but still looking unconvinced she continues. "Come on, I don't bite, at least not that much. Besides, I want to know what kind of nut job chooses to be sleeping in the rain like that, in a tree of all places. You'll catch a cold if you're not careful."

Allen doesn't answer, feeling like he must of trespassed on her property and thus angered her, he tries not to provoke her more by staying and listening to what she says. But when she starts demanding things like his name and why he is there, he feels that he can't honestly answer her.

He really doesn't feel like he knows who he really is anymore, so what would he tell her? And why is he in her tree, how is he to explain that he didn't know it was her tree when she sounds like it is obvious that it is her tree and no one else's. He chooses to say nothing, hoping that she will just leave him in peace so that he can just disappear to another part of this vast place without bothering anyone else.

When she realizes that the boy in front of her won't answer willingly, she pushes her reddish orange hair out of her face and hops down onto the boy's branch. She slowly makes her way towards him, making him retreat until his back is against the tree once more. She looks at him with her large brown eyes, trying to encourage him to speak, but when he still refuses to, she extends her tattoo-covered hand for him to shake. "Ok if you're not going to start, I will. My name is Fou, I'm the first neko to ever be brought here and I've been the guardian of this area ever since." She waits for any sign in the young boy that he's understood at least part of what she said, even if he still refuses to shake her hand. "Now, since I told you my name, I think I have the right to know yours."

He looks away, and his cheeks turn slightly red, but she does manage see his mouth move, mumbling out something. She strains to here, but the boy in front of her is either just too quiet or the rain is just too loud. "Let's try that again, only this time say it loud enough for me to hear it."

With him still looking away, she still can't catch the name, or at least she thinks she's missing something. All she managed to hear was Allen, no last name, that part must have died out with the other mumbles and falling rain.

"I still can't here you!"

He turns his head back towards her, annoyance and fear obvious in his every feature. "I said my name's Allen."

She smiles smugly at him. "See that wasn't so bad now was it Allen." When he starts to turn his head away again, she speaks again. "Ok, so I know that your name is Allen, but what about your last name? Surely you have one of those too, don't you?"

Allen gives a resigned sigh, figuring that this loud female will just continue to pester him with questions until she's satisfied so he might as well give her the information that she wants and just jump out of the tree if she tries to pry too much. The ground really isn't too far down, and the ground looks like it would probably be soft enough to break his fall if need be.

"I don't really have a last name, the one I do have was given to me when I was at the Black Ark. They said that all nekos that come through without a last name are given the last name of Walker in honor of the first neko to ever be held there."

Fou stares at him before a small sympathetic smile graces her features. "I remember being offered the same last name when I had my stay at the Black Ark, but I didn't want it. I was brought there over fifty years ago, when nekos could still go out and interact with society as people, instead of as pets. I was brought in when I was just older than you are now. However, I was one of the lucky ones, I was never bought and after just a few months, I was rescued and brought here. The man that rescued me told me that he would help me leave and go somewhere safer, but I told him that I wanted to stay. At first I thought I owed him something, but as times have changed I've taken up the role of guardian here for his remaining family.

"That man was truly a saint, when his son found out that he would never be able to have children with his wife, he helped them adopt a young kitten that had been hidden and left behind when its family was ripped from their home. That kitten is now one of the directors for this whole operation."

She falls silent, smiling slightly at some memory, and leaving Allen to process what he just heard. However, the smile disappears quickly and a smirk is soon in its place. "Now I'm just going to take a shot at what your story is, that way you don't have to tell me, but I do hope you'll tell me if I get anything wrong. How's that sound?" When Allen gives a small nod, she continues.

"I'm guessing that you were probably in that last group of nekos to be brought back from the Black Ark, and seeing as how most of them have left, you either decided to stay like me, or you haven't been officially released from the medical unit yet. Am I right so far?" Allen gives her a small nod.

"Now I might be wrong on this one, and if I am, then I'm sorry and it was never meant as an insult. I'm guessing that you are a Bearer. You seem far too small and thin to be having such a full stomach for any other reason besides that. Now, did I get that part right?" Another nod. "Since you're here by yourself, your mate must not be here, or you must not have a mate do you? But if you don't have a mate, then how are you so full with a litter?"

Silence reigns for a few minutes as Fou tries to figure out why Allen has a litter, but eventually he breaks the silence. "They're from a human. A human that t- to- took me during my first heat." He turns his head away in shame.

A look of understanding and acknowledgement shows clearly on Fou's face. "Allen, Allen, look at me. Come on look at me. Good that's better. Now, I know you've probably heard this s thousand times by now, but this wasn't your fault and it doesn't make you less of a person because of it. You aren't the first Bearer to come through here like this, and I highly doubt that you'll be the last. What has happened to you, the fact that you are carrying a litter, is their fault, not yours, and it never will be your fault. From what I can tell of your character, you did nothing to seduce that person, nor did you enjoy it. You probably struggled as hard as you could to get away right?" Tears stream down Allen's cheeks with each every word she says.

"I'll take that as a yes. That means that this isn't your fault, yes they hurt you, but you need to be able to move past that and strengthen yourself so that it won't happen again. Now that choice is yours and yours alone to make, but I'm sure that you'll make the right choice."

She watches him as the tears continue to flow, and eventually begin to dry up. Sensing that he is calming down, she tries to distract him, even just a little. "So, you never did tell me what you're doing out here in the rain."

A smile quirks at Allen's mouth, though it never reaches any farther. "I've always liked the rain. I don't really know why, but for some reason, it feels like an old friend, one I can rely on. One that will eventually bring help if I ever really need it."

A confused look crosses Fou's features, but she decides to let the young neko have his opinions and ideas, despite how crazy they might seem to her. She replaces the confusion with a smile after a minute or so. "So, it's getting late and the two of us should be heading off to bed soon, and probably a hot shower too after sitting out in the rain for so long. Now, I'm guessing that you don't know where anything is yet, so I'm just going to show you how to get up to the medical wing and they should help you be able to find your room from there. Come on let's go."

Once they both make it out of the tree and are heading for the door, Allen turns around to take another look at the mighty tree he just spent the last few hours in. Fou turns at the doorway to see Allen looking at the tree and a genuine smile make itself known, but she is quick to replace it with a smirk lest Allen catch it. "You do know that that tree will be there later, right? Just make sure to stop by and see me when you come to climb it next time. Ok?" Allen gives a small nod before following her once more.

….

The sound of softly shuffling feet brings Kanda back to consciousness, but he keeps his eyes mostly closed, trying to see who it is without startling them too much. Through that small sliver of vision, relief floods though Kanda as he sees Fou, the White Ark's resident guardian talking to the Moyashi and gesturing for him to go in his room. She is speaking too softly for him to hear, but Kanda knows that if Allen's been with her this whole time, then he's just fine.

He watches her leave and Allen finally come in the room, but he is very confused as to why his Moyashi seems to be dripping wet. He tries to figure out just what the Moyashi might have gotten into to be in his present state, but nothing immediately comes to mind.

That is, nothing comes to mind until he remembers that he came in with Fou, who also seemed to be quite wet. If the Moyashi was with Fou, then he must have made it back to the indoor park, and that's why he's completely soaked through. They said that they were going to open the skylights so that the days' rainstorm would be able to help water the plants inside with out using more resources.

Once the situation is understood by Kanda, he goes back to watching the Moyashi only to find him climb into bed, still completely soaked, but content nonetheless. Kanda tries to suppress the urge to wake Allen up, insisting that he take a proper heated shower before going to bed, but he stops when he sees that Allen is already deep asleep.

Kanda waits a few minutes to make sure that the Moyashi is deep enough asleep that he won't wake due to too much noise. When he is sure that it is safe to do so, he untangles a hand from his blanket and lets his hand ghost over the Moyashi's ear, feeling the softness and warmth of the small folded ear. He freezes his hand when the Moyashi starts to move.

Fearing that his touches woke Allen up, Kanda's eyes fly to his face only to find him still fast asleep, only now his head rests in Kanda's hand.


	14. Birth

Chapter 13

The following morning, before the sun has even had a chance to breach the dark halls of the White Ark, Kanda is suddenly awaked from his sleep. He first turns his attention to see if there is any immediate danger threatening the Moyashi or himself, and after a moment, when he is satisfied that they are still safe; he turns his attention to the figures standing at the door.

That orange hair and purple clothing makes it obvious who the shorter figures is, but the taller is just out of Kanda's line of sight, and still an unknown other than that the shadow they are casting reveals the telltale ears and tail of a neko. He knows that he can trust the shorter, and if the other neko is with her, he knows that they wouldn't dare try to hurt the Moyashi.

After Fou has seen Kanda take note their presence, she and her companion beckon for Kanda to leave Allen's side for just a moment to come out and speak with them. Kanda hesitates for a moment, looking at the young neko who is still using his hand as a pillow, a small smile gracing his features with the contact that he has subconsciously been seeking. Kanda carefully removes his hand from under the Moyashi's head, trying his best not to disturb the sleeping neko. The moment his hand is gone, the Moyashi's face contorts into a mask of confusion as he unconsciously moves his head, seeking out that warmth and comfort that has suddenly disappeared on him.

Kanda gives the Moyashi one last look of longing before he shuts the door behind him, making sure to close it without a sound, lest it wake the sleeping Moyashi. Once in the hall, Kanda takes notice of the expectant looks decorating the features of the two nekos in front of him. Fou has a rather mischievous grin on her face, where as her companion seem to be a bit more contemplative, his dark golden eyes contemplating and analyzing the taller neko before him.

There is an audible silence as the three appraise the current moods of each other, but Fou is soon to break it with her eagerness. "Yuu Kanda," said neko bristles at this, but she pays him no heed, "we've put our heads together, and if you're willing and patient enough, we think we might just have a plan to help Allen become more comfortable around people again, and to get him to trust you again."

Kanda looks at her companion who is nodding his head to the extent where Kanda begins to wonder if his white hat will fall off or get caught on one of his ears. "Of course this won't happen overnight, and we'll need Allen's cooperation as well, but I'm sure that this will work!" Determination flashes through those golden eyes at the owner's statement.

The taller neko looks between the two in front of him, watching as their eagerness and determination seems to grow with each passing second. His first thoughts are to refuse their help and continue to do things his way, but a look back at the door that hides his Moyashi makes him think again, makes him think of Allen.

He sighs before turning his attention back to the other two. "I'll give this one month, but if there doesn't seem to be any improvement for the Moyashi, I'm scrapping the idea and doing it my way, understood?" The two nod adamantly at this. "Ok, now that that part is settled, what do you want me to do?"

The two look at each other for a minute before the blond backs off leaving Fou to do all of the talking. She gives him a slight pouting glare, but doesn't seem to mind too much. "Right now all you need to do is go and do all of the physical and mental training that you used to do each and every morning before the raid."

Kanda raises an eyebrow. "And just how will that help the Moyashi?"

"He needs some personal space, and yesterday really was his first mental awakening since being brought here, so that means that he is more likely to be able to adapt to this environment. However, he was with you when he came to this realization so he'll probably associate you with this awakening, which seemed to be mostly filled with pain and grief, so on some subconscious level he'll probably have those negative feelings about himself when he's around you for now, and that may be the case for a while. It's possible that those feelings might not ever completely leave him, but we try to help him suppress those negative feelings with more positive, distracting ones. To do that, we need to start with limiting your time with him, just for now. Pretty soon you'll be able to spend more time with him, probably not doing or interacting how you want to just yet, but it will be a step in that direction.

"Right now we want to start by letting him wake up on his own and alone in his room; to be able to collect his thoughts and feelings before someone comes in to see him. Now, since I've dealt with this type of situation before, and he seems to be responding positively to me, I'll be the one to show him around and help him interact with others more for the next few weeks. Today I plan to take it slow and have it just be he and I, and then I'll have you come in to see him for about and hour or so before he goes to sleep. Now, after he goes to sleep, you can spend as much of the night in the room with him as you want, just as long as you leave before he wakes up." She pauses to breath for a moment after explaining so much so fast. "Any questions?"

"How exactly is this supposed to help him adjust?"

Fou rolls her eyes. "Each day he'll get to see someone he's already becoming comfortable with for most of the day, me. Then he'll get to see you and me at the same time so that he can start to readjust to your presence. Eventually, I'll start having him spend time with other as well, with and without you present, this way he'll be able to associate you and others with positive emotions and memories. Each day we'll decrease the time I spend with him bit by bit, and expand the time that you and others are around him so that over time he becomes more and more comfortable with his surroundings and the people here.

"Now you know that he's gone through a lot, and the likelihood of him ever completely getting over it is practically nonexistent, but we can do our best to help him move on. He probably won't be the same as you remember him to be, too much has happened for that to even be a possiblity, but you two can still be together again, it will just take some time and some readjusting on both of your parts."

She pauses before looking Kanda square in the eye. "I have no doubt that Allen can do this, that he will help himself to recover with time, but I have to say, from what I've seen, I don't know if you'll be able to restrain and restrict yourself enough to let him help himself. Yuu Kanda, are you willing to do whatever it takes to help Allen, no matter your own personal feelings and desires?"

His first instinct is again to challenge what she is asking him, but Kanda realizes that she really does only want what's best for the Moyashi, so he stops for a moment to ask himself if he really is willing and able to do this for his Moyashi. After much contemplation he looks between the two other nekos. "As I said before, you have one month to let me start seeing results, I'm counting on seeing some by then. I'll go along with it for that long, and longer if it seems to be working. But only if it seems to be working by then"

A look of relief crosses Fou's face, but she is quick to cover it up by grinning up at Kanda. "Ok so you know your part in this, so get out of here already. We can't do anything until after you've left."

Kanda just looks at her. "Che." And he gives the door one last look before setting off down the hallway to the training room.

Fou holds her grin until she can no longer see Kanda's back as he makes his way down to the training grounds. After that she lets the grin fall and turns to her companion, "Bak, I really hope this works."

A pair of arms circles her waist, pulling her close. "We all do. But it's not up to us. It's all up to Allen now."

….

Time passes quickly after this, and even though each day is very much the same as the ones before, by some perspectives, if someone were to compare Allen from one week to the next, the changes they would be able to observe would astound them if they knew all that had happened to the young neko. Even though there is progress, there are still many things that need work, and some things that might never be completely fixed, but the important thing is that despite all of this, Allen is doing his best to move forward.

For Allen, the days that pass seem incredibly long and trying, but at the end of each day, he can tell that it was all worth the effort. And he can tell that day by day, things seem a little brighter, and maybe, just maybe, there really is hope out there, even if it isn't as obvious as he would like it to be some days.

From that first day that Allen woke up alone in his room, he somehow knew that things were going to change, and after that, Fou came in and explained to him that she wanted to help him to recover, but only for as long as Allen was willing to try and help himself. He had hesitated at first, not because he didn't want to be able to try to help himself, but because he wasn't sure if he would be able to do it. It took him quite a bit of self-questioning, but eventually he was able to give her the answer that the both wanted.

At first, it was all extremely overwhelming for Allen, so much so that at times all he wanted to do was just leave things be and revert back to being alone and staying that way, but eventually after much arguing by Fou, a few unknowingly wisely spoken words from Lenalee, encouragements from Lavi, and from those few times when Allen would see Kanda, he would always be able to overcome his difficulties, somehow, and would eventually try to allow himself move on.

With each day, bit by bit of Allen's confidence and self-respect begins to be pieced back together. It may not be all at once, but each piece helps him to recover and to become the person he really wants to be, not someone whose life is rules by fear and mistrust. And each and every day that Allen is able to see Kanda, he knows, deep down, that this is really what he wants. To be able to be with Kanda, if Kanda is willing to except him as he is now, and as what he has yet to become.

….

After about a month and a half of this treatment, Allen is faced with one of his toughest challenges yet, moving out of the hospital wing and into an actual living space. He has grown comfortable in the little room that's away from most of the residence of the White Ark, but he knows that he needs to get used to the idea of being away from what is familiar, and moving on to something new.

The biggest question that still remains for Allen is where exactly is he going to stay? He's had several offers by his friends to help him pick out a room, most likely near one of their own. But he has also received several offers from people stating that he can stay with them for as long as he would like, or until he can find a more permanent place to call his own. Fou offered to let him stay with her and Bak Chan in their room near the forest room, but he politely declined saying that she has done enough for him already, that anymore on his part would just be imposing on even more on her personal life. And though she still insisted, Allen would only give her a small, fake smile and continue to decline the offer.

Lenalee and Komui offered to try and find space in their shared set of rooms for Allen. They told him that even though Kanda has been sleeping on their couch practically since he was brought to the White Ark, that if Allen wanted, they would be more than willing to make more room for him to stay with them. After hearing that Kanda was already staying with them, he immediately declined the offer, saying that they already had one guest to care for they didn't need another. Besides, after hearing that Kanda was staying with them, he began to wonder about how Kanda really was holding up with everything that had happed to him, let alone what has happened after he found Allen again.

Lavi even offered to let Allen crash with him or Bookman if he ever wanted or needed to. The two were right across the hall from one another, so one of them would always have a door open for the young neko if he ever wanted it. After all, to them, Allen has always been a part of their family, and family takes care of family. Allen was tempted to take Lavi up on his offer, but knowing that Lavi was still having some trouble adjusting to only having one eye, he decided that at least for now, he would find somewhere else to stay so that Lavi would have a better chance at a quick recovery.

The last person to offer Allen a place to stay is Kanda. Allen is a little surprised at this, especially after hearing that Kanda has been staying with Lenalee and Komui for the last long while. He asks Kanda just where exactly he would be staying, and the older neko led him to a room tucked away from most of the main hallways, but still close to the medical ward, indoor forest, and cafeteria. The room itself is nothing special, just a simple small sitting area with a small kitchenette in the corner with a microwave and sink and two cupboards above and below the kitchenette. There is a door leading off to a medium sized bathroom that looks hardly used, and another door leads to the only bedroom. The bedroom itself looks practically untouched aside from missing bed coverings and some scattered clothing on the floor. After looking around, Allen agrees to take Kanda up on his offer, because even if Kanda isn't there, the whole room smells of Kanda, and that alone helps to calm Allen to a point where he feels that this will be the most comfortable for him to stay for any extended period of time.

The first few days of living in those rooms are strange for Allen. He knows that the room technically is Kanda's, but with the older neko gone most of the time, and with him off staying with Lenalee and Komui at night instead of staying with him like he did while he was in the medical ward, he begins to feel a bit lonely.

Eventually, one night as Kanda is getting ready to leave, Allen comes up behind him, grabbing the bottom of his coat as he puts it on. His voice is small, and with his head hanging, his voice is a little muffled, but Kanda can still hear him. "Please don't go. Please, please stay, even just this once." The two stay like that for several minutes, both afraid to make the next move. At long last it is Kanda who gives his customary 'Che' before taking off his coat and announcing that he'll stay with Allen, at least for the night.

After a while, this becomes a type of routine for the two of them, Kanda will act as though he is going to leave for the night, and each night that Allen asks for him to stay, Kanda will put his coat away and after making sure that Allen is asleep, will settle in on the couch for the night ahead.

It is a comfortable routine for them, but one night changes this routine into something even more.

After about half a month of Allen living with Kanda, Kanda is awakened by some instinct he has no name for. Somehow, without even stopping to see if he can sense any sort of danger, he immediately heads to his Moyashi who is supposed to be asleep in the bedroom. But when he opens the bedroom door, Kanda is met with a sight that he hadn't anticipated in the slightest.

He can see that the Moyashi is trapped in a nightmare as the young neko thrashes around the bed, seemingly trying to get away from some unseen foe. He can see tears spilling down those pale cheeks, as screams and words die in the throat of the Moyashi who can't seem to escape back in to reality. Sweat dampens his hair and clothing, showing his exertions of trying to escape from his dreams.

Kanda tires to carefully shake the Moyashi, hoping to gently wake him up, but when the nightmare continues, Kanda tries to talk to Allen, to talk and shake him, but nothing he does will wake the young neko. Eventually, Kanda sits on the bed and after maneuvering his Moyashi into a more comfortable position, he simply holds the Moyashi, hoping that his presence will somehow alleviate the dream or at least allow some comfort to become available to him.

The nightmare continues long into the early hours of the morning, but Kanda still holds onto his Moyashi, despite all of the struggling, and the strange and confusing noises coming from the younger neko. Eventually all of that seems to die down, and the Moyashi is allowed at least a little bit of restful sleep, but Kanda still doesn't leave his side, opting to continue holding the younger neko for a while longer.

Kanda ends up falling asleep while still holding Allen, and when Allen is the first to wake, to say that he is surprised would be an understatement. However, this is not an unwelcome surprise. In truth, Allen has been longing for Kanda to come and share the bed with him like they used to do when they were younger. At that time, whenever there was a storm, Kanda would let Allen into his bed, and hold him close until morning would come. And for this to be finally happening again, especially after the nightmare that he had just had, it is exactly what Allen needs.

Allen tires to be discreet as he wiggles closer to Kanda, taking in his warmth and the calm that seem to radiate off of him as he sleeps. But even the slight movement makes Kanda wake up. When those deep blue eyes, still lazy with sleep see liquid silver ones staring back at them, Kanda freeze for a moment, fearing that he has overstepped some type of boundary.

Kanda's confusion and concern is evident, and it makes Allen worry for a moment that he did something wrong. So after little contemplation he does the first thing that pops into his head. He leans in closer to Kanda, and when the other neko doesn't move, he draws the older neko into a kiss.

Their lips meet and it is if time has stopped. The molding of soft flesh on soft flesh, and the desire to be closer and closer rings with clarity. Allen is a little surprised when he feels a tongue hesitantly wipe at the crease in his lips, and after only a moments hesitation, he opens his mouth just enough so that the kiss isn't broken, but the exploring muscle is allowed entrance. There is no battle for dominance, only continued passion, until the spell is broken and the two nekos are forced back to reality with the need for oxygen.

The two look at each other for a long time, neither moving nor speaking, both hoping that that moment wasn't simply a dream, but part of reality. Eventually, Kanda breaks eye contact with Allen, and the younger neko takes the opportunity to lie back down and snuggle closer to Kanda, intertwining their tails together.

Kanda is stunned, but after seeing his Moyashi drift back to sleep, and being able to still taste the younger on his tongue, he wraps his arms around the younger neko, holding him close as he too falls back into a much more peaceful and restful sleep.

After that one kiss, everything about their interactions changes. Both of the nekos are more forward with each other, asking and saying what they want without fear of miscommunication. Kanda begins to start sharing the same bed with his Moyashi, making sure to hold him through both the good dreams, and the reoccurring nightmares. Allen beings to seek out Kanda more and more, and while his interactions with others continue to improve, it is only when he is with Kanda that he truly feels like himself.

The two begin to spend more and more time together, one never too far from the other. This happens especially since Allen's pregnancy is progressing so swiftly, and with such a large litter, that by the time he is five months along, his stomach is so full with kittens that he has to help going anywhere, and doing anything that involves reaching up or bending down. Kanda takes this as an opportunity to have an excuse to spend more time with his Moyashi, and be near him.

It is also around this time that the two nekos start to go off on their own every once in a while, after meeting up with their friends for a rather loud dinner. Sometimes the two of them simply wander the halls, hand in hand, and other times they go and sit in various spots in the indoor forest, letting the beauty around them fill the peaceful silence. It is also during these times when more kisses are frequently exchanged and whispers of nothing and everything are exchanged.

One night when the two of them are off in their room, tired enough that their actions become automatic and with no thought, that Allen begins to feel that something is off. He disregards it and continues with his shower, just hoping to not fall asleep before making it to the bedroom. As he rubs the last of the excess water from his skin he stops when he feels a pain shoot up his spine. His eyes widen, but when the pain doesn't return, he ignores it and wearily makes his way into bed where Kanda is already asleep.

His sleep is constantly interrupted that night, the pain returns out of the blue, and he can feel himself lose his focus on everything, even though he is still awake. He wants to wake Kanda, to have him reassure him that nothing is wrong and that he is just overreacting, but he decides against it, knowing that the older neko is just as exhausted and if he can get some sleep, then he deserves it.

Eventually the pain increases and starts to become more constant, by then, all Allen can do is concentrate on is trying not to make too much noise and wake Kanda, but with each wave of pain it becomes increasingly difficult. It is one particularly loud grunt of pain that finally wakes Kanda and alerts him to Allen's condition.

After a few minutes of observing his Moyashi, Kanda quickly becomes worried and starts to find his keys so that he can get his Moyashi to the medical wing as soon as possible. Finding the keys ends up being the easy part as getting Allen to concentrate enough on anything except the pain becomes exceedingly difficult, not impossible, just difficult.

Eventually, Allen is able to stand while using Kanda as a support. He tries to focus solely on each step forward, but by the time they finally reach the hall to the elevator, he is wracked with another wave of pain, only this one is slightly different. After the pain subsides, Allen feels a wetness slide down his legs at an alarming rate and volume.

Before he can even fully react, Kanda seems to notice what has happened and gathers Allen in his arms, carrying him in much the same way he did during the raid on the Black Ark. Kanda begins to run the rest of the way to the medical wing, only stopping to wait impatiently for the elevator.

Upon arriving at the quite medical wing, Kanda begins to call for a doctor, for anyone to come and help Allen. Within seconds, a nurse rushes down one of the halls and after seeing exactly what the emergency is, ushers Kanda and Allen into one of the nearest rooms where she immediately calls for help.

While they wait for more assistance to arrive, the nurse wastes no time in setting out, gathering supplies and checking on Allen's condition every few seconds. After only a few minutes of this, Komui rushes in the door, and after taking one look at Allen, kicks both the nurse and Kanda out of the room.

Out in the hallway, the nurse is quick to tell the arriving help exactly what she wants, and soon Kanda is left by himself outside of the door, worrying about Allen the entire time. After roughly fifteen minutes of waiting, the door opens and Kanda is allowed back into the room.

Upon entering Kanda notices that Allen is now dressed in one of the hospital gowns, and a thin blanket helps to cover everything below his waist. He doesn't even seem to notice when Kanda enters, his breathing labored and pain written across his features. Kanda takes a seat near his side, and takes hold of the younger neko's hand, only to have his grabbed and squeezed tightly instead.

Kanda looks at Komui for answers, but he doesn't get the chance to ask as the door bursts open again and more nurses rush in with various supplies before either leaving or trying to get Kanda to leave with them. Kanda refuses to leave until someone tells him what his going on and what is wrong with his Moyashi.

Eventually, Komui takes Kanda by the shoulder and steers him out of the room, telling him exactly what is going on. "Allen has gone into premature labor and it appears that his water broke on your way here. At this point there is no turning back or waiting any longer. He's about to birth his litter." And with that he heads back into the room, leaving a very stunned Kanda in the hall.

For Allen, all he can feel is pain pulling at his stomach and lower torso. The pain doesn't seem to be coming from just one point, but from multiple points, each shifting causing even more pain. He tires to pay attention to the things going on around him instead of the pain, but at this point he can only concentrate for a few seconds at a time, but never long enough to really understand what is going on.

Finally he sees a glimpse of Komui trying to talk to him, so he tires even harder to concentrate on what the man is saying, but even then he still isn't able to catch everything, but he is able to catch just enough to know roughly what is happening.

He now understands that the pain he is feeling is from going into labor, that his water has broke, and that any minute now, the first kitten would be trying to come out.

He doesn't have to wait long before the pain becomes even more intense and he can hear people shouting at him to push. He does what they tell him, screaming with the pain and effort.

He feels something slide out of himself, but doesn't have much time to dwell on it before the pain begins anew.

This continues three more times, and each time the pushing becomes harder and the pain seems to never end.

By the time he is being told for a fifth time to push, he has no energy left to even try. He can hear people calling to him, urging him for just a little more, to hold out for just a little longer.

With a final desperate push, Allen uses up the last of his energy and falls into a sweet, painless oblivion.


	15. Aftermath and Questions

Chapter 14

Time seems to be moving at a snails pace for Kanda as he is forced to remain in the hallway while his Moyashi is on the other side of the door, giving birth to the doomed litter. He wants nothing more than to be by the younger neko's side, just to be there for him, lend him his own strength if possible.

The silence is too great for him to bear alone, especially when the Moyashi's cries of pain begin to pierce the normally silent night hours. His cries and screams echo throughout the deserted halls, each remaining sound helping to push Kanda closer and closer to doing something, anything just as long as he is finally by the Moyashi's side.

Each sound of pain emanating from the room seems to be only the beginning for Kanda. He knows that once this is all over, his Moyashi will be in even more pain, pain that will not just be physical, and that may never completely fade away no matter what he does. But each scream is also a reminder that the Moyashi is stronger than something like this, that eventually he will be able to move on.

Eventually, there are a few minutes of silence, and Kanda begins to wonder if it is done, if now he'll be let in to see and comfort his Moyashi. But that silence is broken again, only the force of such a pain filled scream leaves Kanda's ears flat against his head, and the hair on the back of his head stand up. And if the scream itself wasn't bad enough, the fact that it is cut off raises panic and fear for the much smaller neko behind the now taunting door.

Kanda makes a move to the door, determination to do what he can to ease his Moyashi's pain the only clear thought present. He doesn't know what he can do, but he knows that he must do something, else both he and his Moyashi be left in such mental and physical pain for the moment.

He reaches for the doorknob, but something stops him from turning it. The fear of what he might be greeted with makes him freeze, filling him with a fear of what kind of condition he might find the Moyashi in, and let alone that it will only become worse once the younger neko finally has the reality that his litter is dead.

He doesn't know just how long he stands like that, but after a time, it doesn't seem to matter what he does or doesn't do. Nothing can change what has just happened to his Moyashi. He knows that there is nothing he can do to change what has already occurred; he can only try to change what will happen. But how to do that, he has no idea where to even begin.

He feels the handle lightly turn beneath his hand but makes no move to stop it, or to move his own hand away. When the door swings inward, he lets his fingers fall from around the handle, his arm falling silently back to his side in the process.

A small procession of nurses make their way past him, muttering and mumbling to themselves. The only thing that seems out of place with them are their frowns, and the three small wrapped bundles that they are carrying amongst them. Kanda glances briefly at each bundle, knowing that inside each and every one is something that will break his Moyashi's heart.

After the nurses have passed him, he heads into the room; wary of what sort of state he will find his Moyashi in. And upon entering, he immediately looks towards where his Moyashi was when he left. When he discovers that the younger neko is missing from the now stripped bed, he immediately begins to panic and turns to the only other person in the room, eyes not even caring that they are begging for answers.

Komui feels Kanda's eyes upon him and reluctantly turns to meet the questions that he is sure will be waiting for him. But when he sees just how many questions there are, as well as the underlying panic, he knows that this is going to take a while, and he might as well clear away the majority of the questions as soon as possible.

Without speaking a word, Komui makes brief eye contact with Kanda; just enough to let the neko know to follow him, before heading out a door that connects the room through as secluded hallway to other medically equipped rooms. Komui leads quickly, sensing the growing panic from the one behind him, the destination may only be one short hallway and one room away, but he's sure that each step will seem like an eternity for Kanda.

He rounds a corner and immediately into a room where two constant, semi-smooth beeping sounds are heard. Knowing that Kanda will do whatever he thinks that he ought to do, Komui leaves the two older nekos to each other, making sure to check on the vitals of the room's other occupants before he turns to leave.

Kanda stares at the sight before him, not completely sure that what he is seeing is real, and not just some dream from his unconsciousness. His Moyashi is out cold to the world around him, his hair still plastered to his forehead with sweat, but there is a slight look of peace upon his features. He seems much paler than normal, but at the same time, not a sickly pale. The most obvious change is that his stomach is already noticeably flatter, now that it is no longer full with a litter, and that even in his sleep, the Moyashi is holding a small white bundle close to himself.

Another look at the room itself reveals an incubator near the bed, inside is another white bundle, only this one seems to be hooked up to many different machines all at the same time. A monitor displays the tiny, irregular heartbeat of its small patient.

Kanda notes that his Moyashi is still sleeping, so he goes over to the incubator, trying to see if its little white bundle really is what he thinks it is. The plastic is slightly warped, making the bundle a bit blurry and out of focus, but there is no denying it, inside is a small thing. Something not quite neko, but not quite human either. Something so covered with wires and monitors, that Kanda can't even see any distinguishing features to even tell just what this thing looks like.

Despite his fascination with the small thing beneath the mass of wires, he still turns his attention back to the Moyashi when he hears the younger neko begin to stir. He makes the few steps over to the bed, quick, yet each step brings a sense of dread with it. An unknown as to how the Moyashi will react to his new surroundings, both in location and with the new beings present.

….

Allen feels utterly and completely exhausted, but he knows that he needs to wake up, to face whatever awaits him, for good or ill. His instincts tell him that something dreadful has occurred, but yet at the same time, there is something nagging at his consciousness, telling him that everything will be ok, just as long as he opens his eyes and keeps an open mind.

And while he would like nothing more than to be able to drift back into sleep, there is an unexpected weight on his arm that he feels that he should be familiar with, but yet can't seem to place. With reluctance, he opens his eyes and lets his line of sight drift down to a small white bundle that he wasn't conscious of holding. He can't see too much at this angel, except for a small pink nose poking out of the blankets.

He carefully rearranges himself and the bundle, bring it closer for a better inspection, and what he sees shocks him to no end. The creature in the bundle looks like a human for the most part, but there are a few things that automatically proclaim it to be something entirely different.

For one thing, it has two sets of ears, one normal human pair, but another, small, neko like pair higher up on its head, nearly at the top, something completely unheard of for a neko. Also, there seems to be a blaze of dark fur like hair running from the bridge of it's nose up to into it's hairline, sort of like the strip of fur that every neko has running from the base of their skull down their spine until it mixes with the fur on their tail. A tip of a tail is felt underneath the blankets, but it doesn't seem long enough to be considered a full tail, nor does it seem sturdy enough, more like it is simply there, limp with no means of movement.

To anyone else, this child would probably be seen as misshape, or even disfigured, but for Allen, he couldn't imagine a more beautiful child in his arms right then, no matter who their sire was, nor how they were conceived. Just the simple fact that this child is alive, despite the odds against it is enough to convince Allen to love it as much as he can. Though a part of him does wonder what will become of this child, but at the same time, all he wants to do for that moment is to hold it close and be able to hide it from the cruelties of the world, even if it is only for a short period of time.

A slight shuffling noise alerts him to another presence in the room, and he can't help but give a small smile when he looks up from his bundle to see Kanda move to sit next to him. He carefully, and painfully scoots over a bit, allowing more room for the older neko, but still keeping at tight grip on his child at the same time. Once they are both settled on the bed, there is silence between them, it is slightly uneasy, but also full of questions.

Allen leans against Kanda, making sure to still support the baby, but still giving Kanda a better view without having to let it go just yet. Without even looking at the older neko, Allen can feel his gaze shift to the thing in his arms, and can feel the body next to him stiffen a bit.

Allen knows why the older neko reacts the way he does, but he really does hope that Kanda will be more open after he has had a chance to get used to the appearance of the baby. Now that he knows that at least one out of his litter is alive, he hopes that Kanda will still be there for him and the newborn, even if Kanda isn't the sire.

As his thoughts and exhaustion begin to weigh heavily on him again, Allen moves closer to Kanda once again, and leans most of his weight on the older neko. He feels Kanda shift a little, but just enough to allow him to plant a small kiss on Allen's head before he feels Kanda move himself and the child closer to him, holding them in his arms.

He stays in Kanda's arms for several hours, never moving, but never quite sleeping either. He knows that he is more relaxed now that Kanda is here, and he knows that if he really does begin to sleep, Kanda will be sure to keep his child safe, but there is still something that is keeping him from sleeping. Almost like a feeling that there is more to this than what he already knows, but for now he is gently lulled into his peaceful state by hearing the steady beating of Kanda's heart.

However, the feeling of something more, nags him, trying to tell him to wake up, that there is something that he needs to know, and for some reason, his need to know seems be becoming even more urgent, and his peaceful state is quickly becoming interrupted. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he can hear the sound of a machine becoming louder and more frequent, and he knows that this is important, but he doesn't know why.

Cracking open his eyes, he can see Komui and a couple of nurses running into the room and crowding around something on the other side of the room. It seems that the loud screaming machine is over there somewhere past the people, but he can't see exactly what it is that is causing such a sound. All he can catch is glimpses of some plastic and at one point, a white blanket.

Something tells him that he needs to be over there, at that moment, but at that moment he can't figure out just how to get over there. His entire abdomen and lower half is practically numb when he doesn't move, but when he does move, the pain becomes excruciating, not allowing him to move more than a little in order to let the pain try to ease away.

He knows this, but this urge, no this need to be over there is quickly becoming far too great for him to resist. Trying to be as careful as he can, he pulls away from Kanda, trying to use some of that inital momentum to aid his standing, but the pain proves to be stronger than he had anticipated.

As he falls towards the bed, he can feel Kanda grab his waist to keep him from falling, and after taking a moment to once again let the pain ease, Allen begins once again to stand, and though the pain is great, and he is still trying to hold on to his child as well as support himself, he knows that he must make it to the other side of the room, and soon.

After only a few small steps, tears are streaming from his eyes due to the shear intensity of the pain, and he is very unsteady, but he is still trying to make it there on his own. He can hear Kanda calling after him, apparently it is even enough to distract a nurse for a moment, but even that isn't enough to stop Allen from trying to reach his intended destination.

He is a bit startled, but not surprised when a pair of strong arms grabs him, pulling him close to the body behind him, and effectively halting any movement. He doesn't know why, but the tears begin to fall faster and harder, and even though his voice is nearly completely gone from earlier, he still tries to beg Kanda to release him, to let him go, but his words go unheeded.

Eventually through his own sobbing, Allen hears the machine in front of him give one single, continuous scream, the loudest yet. The movements of the nurses and Komui in front of him only increase and become quicker, but in the end, the movement stops and the screaming is cut off.

Their movements begin to slow and one of the nurses makes her way around the others and past Allen with a completely wrapped white bundle in her hands. She seems not to notice the neko screaming after her, nor does she stop for anything or anyone as she leaves the room and its' occupants behind.

When the nurse walks past with the white bundle, Allen knows what has happened. He knows that he had managed to ignore a second child of his, and now he will never be able to see it, as it wasn't able to survive outside of him.

He ceases his struggles to move forward, opting to let his body win as he slumps to the floor, Kanda still holding him steady and tightly. He lets his tears flow freely now, not even bothering to try to remain calm. He feels Kanda settle behind him, murmuring reassurances in his ear, feels his arms wrap even tighter around him.

Eventually as second cry joins Allen's. These cries are sharper, and less pain filled, but still enough to bring Komui and the remaining nurses over. One of the nurses tries to lift the baby from Allen's arms, but he jerks away from them, not letting her get close to the only child he has left. Komui gives the nurse a look and she leaves, an annoyed look in her eye.

Komui comes over and after making sure to reassure Allen that it is just him, he carefully and slowly lifts the child out of Allen's arms. When Allen seems confused as to where the bundle went, Komui makes sure that Allen sees that the baby is alright and with him, before carrying the still screaming child down the hall.

Allen remains in Kanda's arms. Never moving except to burry his head in the older neko's chest. Even after his exhaustion finally overwhelms him and brings him sleep, he still sheds tears, but despite all of this, Kanda never leaves his side, never lets him leave the safety and comfort of his arms.

….

The next month passes in a wash of tears and grief for Allen. He still blames himself for not noticing what was happening to his other child at the time, he still feels that there must have been something he could have done to keep that child alive, despite everything being out of his control.

Only a couple of days after the birth of his litter, he insisted that he be able to hold a proper burial for them, and even though he technically wasn't fit or cleared to leave the medical facilities of the White Ark, Komui made sure that Allen was able to get his wish.

The four out of the litter that didn't survive were buried in the forest area. The massive redwood that looms over everything in that area had a hallow in one of its' exposed roots, there the four were buried, surrounded by their 'mother' and the rest of those at the White Ark who had come to care for Allen, and for their wellbeing's.

Throughout the entire ceremony, Allen's eyes never left the bundles holding his three daughters and son as they were given a final resting place. Even their surviving sister was silent through the whole thing, as if she knew what was happening, and knew that it could have just as easily been her in their place.

After the ceremony, Allen was taken back to the medical facilities, seeing as he still hadn't completely healed yet from his rough birth. For the rest of that day, he didn't say anything, and people knew better than to push him. He simply sat in one spot, holding his one surviving child while Kanda sat with him, holding his hand, and trying to provide him with some form of comfort for the rest of the day.

….

When the day finally comes for Allen to be released from the medical facilities, Komui steps in to see him off with Kanda. He watches the two interact with each other and with the newborn for a minutes before he makes his presence known. The two look, and acknowledge his presence, Allen even attempts to give him a small smile, but as it has been for the last long while, the smile doesn't reach his eyes.

Komui clears his throat before he begins with his words for the two before him. "Well Allen, it seems that all of the final paperwork is done, so now you are free to come and go as you please, just make sure to visit sometime when you aren't hurt, ok?" A slight blush flashes across the young nekos' face. "Now before you go, I do have some questions for you, and while they might seem a bit redundant, it's for the best if you think before answering them."

He can tell that he has both of the neko's full attention now, whether for good or ill. "Now Allen, now that you have a newborn to take care of, have you decided where you're going to be staying? I know that you've previously been staying with Kanda, but if you were to remain there and something were to happen and your child needed medical attention, the time it would take to reach this level could greatly decrease the chances of survival. Not to mention that it is a one-room apartment with no room for a crib. I suggest that if you still want to stay with Kanda, you might want to consider finding a bigger apartment to move into as soon as you can. That way you will have space for the child, and hopefully be closer to the medical facilities, should you ever need them."

The two nekos look at each other for a few minutes before Kanda answers for the both of them. "There had better be some easily accessible apartments as close as you say they are. I'm not about to have everyone move more than once, just because you claim to have found a better location after we settle into out new one."

Komui smiles at this, and a small laugh manages to escape. "Ok then next question, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that we all want to know what the answer to this one is. What do you plan to name that child in your arms?"

Both Kanda and Allen look at the sleeping bundle in Allen's arms, a small tuft of jet-black hair managing to escape from the wrappings. Allen looks at Komui before responding. "Her name is Rose. When we were last in the forest area, she somehow managed to find a rose and refused to let it go, so we figured that we'd let her keep it."

Komui's smile softens at this. "Ok now this last question is rather important, and you can change what you plan to do later on, but we will take whatever you say now and use it to help you plan for the future. I know that it wasn't that long ago that Allen had his heat, but as long as things stay the way they are, he should be expected to enter his heat sometime about three months from now. Now when this happens, it should only last for a day or two and should happen about twice a month. But if anything were to happen, say Kanda starts his heat around the same time, what do you plan to do? I wouldn't advise trying to have Allen become pregnant again for at least a few more months, considering everything that happened with that birth, especially how it was a month early so the muscles hadn't been able to relax yet, there was quite a bit of damage, nothing permanent, but still serious enough to need more time to heal."

Kanda looks down at Allen. "I think for now, it would be best if I just made sure to stay somewhere else for those two days, that way you'll still be able to take care of Rose, but that way you won't have to worry about anything besides that."

Allen looks up at him with large eyes. "Just as long as you don't go to far."

Kanda smiles down at his Moyashi. "I don't plan to completely leave you alone for a long time to come."

Komui clears his throat again, trying to get their attention back to the task at hand. "Like I said, that is changeable in the future, but for now at least you have something to think about. Now, before you go to do your apartment shopping, do either of you have any questions?"

Once again, the two nekos look at one another before Allen asks, "What do you mean that the muscles weren't able to relax when I gave birth? What is that even supposed to mean?"

Komui turns a shade of pink for a moment before considering Allen's question. "Allen, how much do you know about Bearer anatomy when it comes to becoming pregnant and giving birth?"

Allen looks away, suddenly finding the floor to be very interesting. "Not much really, I just know that somehow it's possible."

Komui turns an even brighter shade of pink and sighs before beginning. "I'll try to explain this as simply as I can without using too many medical terms. Basically, when you have sex, there are two possible places for your partner's . . . eh . . . 'fluids' to go. The first is basically the same place it would go for any male relationship like yours. The fluids would just remain in the rectum until they manage to escape or are forced out later on.

"However, you also have a second place for those fluids to go. You see, when you find your mate, your body and theirs will react to such a degree that part of one of the walls of the rectum will shift enough to let the fluids through to a type of vaginal passage. That passage leads to the uterus and that is where any fertilization of eggs will take place. It is also the first passage where the resulting child would be pushed through on their way out.

"But that passage will only open for your mate. There is some type of chemical reaction that takes place in your body when the two of you spend enough time together and that allows for that wall to have it's density and composition shift enough to allow this process to occur in the even that the two of you should ever have sex."

"But why was I able to become pregnant even though I . . . even thought it was . . ."

"Allen there was nothing you could have done. When that man raped you, he ended up tearing that part of your rectum in several places, allowing his fluids to make their way into your uterus.

"And now because of you premature birth, it wasn't able to heal like it should and where the chemicals that your body would have naturally started to release before you started to have contractions, to relax the muscles down there to a point where they would be able to expand and contract much more than normal for a short period of time. However, because of the tearing, and the premature birth, the muscles weren't able to receive as much of these chemicals as needed, and that resulted in more stress on the muscles, causing them to tear again.

"Now, that doesn't mean that you'll never be able to have kittens again, assuming that you ever want more. It just means that it might be a while before you can safely carry any again. It might take some time, but eventually you should be just fine internally."

Komui watches as the two nekos in front of him try to understand what he just told him. Meanwhile, his blush is becoming more and more prominent and he really doesn't feel that he can explain it any better, and he really hopes that the two of them don't ask for him to explain it all again. When he sees that the two are still lost in thought, he takes the opportunity to slip out before they notice, knowing that if they have any questions, they know where to find him.

By the time that the two nekos seem to have at least partially understood what Komui just told them, he is long gone, and the two of them are left wondering just how long they've been standing there since he left.

Kanda sighs and takes his Moyashi's hand, leading him out of the medical facility levels. "You know what this means."

Allen looks up at him, questions in his eyes. "What does what mean?"

Kanda just grins. "It means that we're going to need a bigger apartment, and maybe a new bed to go with it."


	16. Midnight Wanderings

Chapter 15

For Allen and Kanda, the search and subsequent move into a new apartment turned out to be much easier and far faster than they had originally thought that it could possibly be, especially with having to take care of a newborn and all of its demands at the same time. Eventually, they ended up settling in a simple two-bedroom unit located two floors below the medical units, and just down the hall from the elevator so that the medical facilities, cafeteria, and the forest area are never too far whenever any of the inhabitants either required or wanted to go somewhere.

With their new apartment in such a convenient location, it has become far easier for Allen to be able to go out whenever he wants or needs to, as well as for him to be able to interact with others in the White Ark. Now, Allen will actually spend time, of his own choosing, with those he has known since he was young, or that he has met throughout his journey to the White Ark. This interaction has led him to become more outgoing and accepting of those around him, though he still seems to panic in a large group if there are too many people, or if he is by himself for too long.

It eventually comes to a point where Allen decides that he should go out and at least become familiar with where some of the other areas of the White Ark are located and what purpose they hold, both for something to do, and for future reference. However, it doesn't take him long at all before he is completely and hopelessly lost, and though he tries not to show it, he begins to worry. After all, the White Ark is so large that even though he could be near someplace familiar, even just a hallway or two away, he would never know it with how this place is designed.

However, being completely lost is the least of Allen's worries, that he can deal with, he knows that he'll either find something familiar eventually or come across someone to ask directions from. No, his biggest worry is that Rose will soon wake from her nap, and will be demanding something to eat, and when she discovers that her demands aren't being met right away, she will most likely throw a tantrum until she either wears herself out and needs a change of diapers as well, or someone hears her cries and comes to investigate, effectively leading Allen back towards home.

Allen really can't decide if he should just wander around until that point is reached, or if he should just stay where he is, wherever that may be. Wandering would improve his chances of someone finding him and helping him find his way back before Rose wakes up or Kanda finds out. But at the same time, staying in one place seems nice, especially after a restless night that ended up with his wandering around in the first place.

…flashback…

He had had trouble falling asleep, and since Rose kept waking up every few hours for one thing or another, and he knew that Kanda was getting even less sleep than him, since the older neko would leave early in the morning to train before coming back to cook breakfast, supposedly before Allen was supposed to wake or before Rose woke him up once again. But this time it was the middle of the night, and Allen already knew that he would never get any sleep that night, so he figured that he might as well try to use his extra time wisely, maybe take Rose out with him and let Kanda get a few more hours of uninterrupted sleep.

He had grabbed the sling that Miranda had made for him, and after making sure that Rose was situated and comfortable inside against his chest, he made his way out of the apartment and down one of the hallways as quietly as possible, trying not to wake any of the other inhabitants of the apartments. His wanderings eventually led him through many different areas and levels of the White Ark, each different and unique in function and purpose. But after a period of mindless walking, and a few deviations from the main path, Allen quickly realized just how lost he really is.

…flashback end…

With an elongated sight of defeat, Allen leans up against the nearest wall, and lowers himself carefully to the floor, careful not disturb Rose. He can feel the weariness of so many sleepless nights, and constant care of his child weighing down on him more than normal. He knows that he's doing his best and then some, but everything still feels so overwhelming, just too much for him to handle even now, even after being here for nearly three months and supposedly recovering that whole time. Even after being welcomed in by so many wonderful people, he still doesn't feel like he quite fits in, almost like he is on the other side of a glass looking in, watching but not actually participating and interacting with those around him.

Even Kanda, Kanda who has been so wonderful and patient, even Kanda sometimes feels like too much for Allen to be around without feeling like he is part of everything. He knows without a doubt that he loves Kanda completely and without any doubts, but there always seems to be something holding him back, something that keeps him from showing his love any further than just simple kisses and touches. Even though Kanda always says that that is more than enough, that Allen needs not do or give him anything except his love, he still wishes that there is something else, something more that he can do for the older neko that nurtured his injured heart.

But at the same time, Allen knows that he really can't do anything more until he can learn to forget, and not just try to forgive Tyki for doing all of those things to him. He knows that he'll remain damaged until those memories fade and much time has passed, but for now, they are still to strong, it is still too soon. There are still too many reminders of what happened, that at this point forgetting seems to be utterly impossible.

Every time he looks into his daughters eyes, he sees not only his child, but he sees him as well. Those bright golden eyes, holding so much resemblance to every Noah, but especially to him. Allen knows that he tries to look past that and not see any of the Noah, but only his daughter. But sometimes it can become incredibly difficult to differentiate between the two, especially knowing that because of him, she really is one of the Noah, if not in personality, but in blood and looks. He knows that his child blames no responsibility for her existence or for what happened to him for her to exist, but the fact still remains, the Noah continue to haunt him, even if it is only in his mind.

He looks down at Rose, who is somehow still sleeping, smiling but sleeping despite being hauled all throughout the White Ark. He knows that she is innocent, and seeing her like this, being so peaceful and with a slight smile on her small lips, it really does help him to remember that she is his and Kanda's, no one else will ever be able to even touch or claim her without their permission. He smiles at that thought, of her belonging to both him and Kanda, it seems to be bittersweet somehow, but it is true nonetheless. Even if she is only related to Allen by blood, Kanda will always be her father; no one else will ever get to be that for her.

Seeing his daughter so happy and peaceful helps to lull Allen into a fuzzy frame of mind where his thoughts begin to wander even more, and before too long, both neko and child are sleeping deeply and peacefully in one of the unmarked hallways of the White Ark.

….

For some unknown reason, Alma found himself bolting upright in bed, his sleep cut off abruptly and with no warning, almost as if someone had called his name in his ear while he was unprepared and not paying attention. When he stops to find out just what is was that forced him from his slumber, nothing but silence greets his flickering ears now, and yet something in the back of his mind tells him that he is required to be up and out of bed at this early hour of the morning, almost like he is needed somewhere else.

His thoughts immediately flicker to his two loves, Kanda and Allen, both of them often the cause of many of his worries, but it seems that that same feeling that is telling him to leave his rooms at this early hour, seems to also be reassuring him that nothing serious has happened to either them, or at least nothing he needs to be too over concerned with, and yet he must still get up because he is needed elsewhere.

He rolls over and grumbles into his pillow for a while, not wanting to get up this early and leave his comfortable bed and warm blankets, but when the feeling continues and only seems to intensify, he finally, begrudgingly roles over once again. He sleepily makes his way through his bedroom to grab a robe and pair of well-worn slippers before heading out to see just where he is needed and why, after all, he has never had a feeling like this that was wrong in the past.

He sleepily makes his way down a couple of halls towards the elevator when his ears happen to catch the barest traces of an inconsistent, piercing sound. He stops and closes his eyes for a moment, letting his ears swivel about to discern from which direction the sound is coming from. His eyes snap open after a moment, and quickly heads in the direction of the sound, having a feeling that there is something more to this sound than just what he can hear from here.

It only takes about two turns before Alma realizes why that sound is familiar, it seems to be the sound of a baby crying, and judging by the intensity and shrillness of the screams, its demands aren't being met and haven't been met for a while. However, there is one thing that is strange about this sound, it seems to be remaining in one spot, not moving around like it should if someone was caring for the child. But who would leave a child unattended in a hallway?

His question is answered once he rounds the final corner to discover the source of the shirking. He finds Allen dressed only in a simple pair of pajamas and Rose's sling, leaning against a wall; slumped over, his hair covering what must be Rose from sight, yet remaining completely unmoving and oblivious to Alma approaching him and his child. Alma moves closer, amazed that Allen still isn't moving even with the racket that Rose is putting out, but at the same time he is becoming exceedingly worried about the younger neko's lack of response.

He tries talking to Allen and Rose, trying to get Allen to respond to the sound of his voice, but the only thing that changes is that Rose quiets a little, recognizing his voice, but still continues to scream her tiny lungs out. Alma sighs and leans down to shake Allen awake, trying to get any sort of response at this rate, and is quite startled when nothing changes about the younger neko besides Allen's head shaking a bit as Alma shakes his arm.

Eventually, Alma eases himself onto the floor and scoots closer to Allen, talking to him the whole time, still hoping that something, anything will change with the younger neko, or at least reassure him that he is a friend and that he's not going to hurt him. Seeing that Allen still isn't responding, Alma eases Rose out of her sling, cradling her in his arms, hoping to calm her down, even just a little while he tries to figure out just how he is going to wake up her 'mother'. When her screams fail to cease, he tries to put a finger to her lips, shushing her in a seemingly futile attempt to quiet her. However, she quickly decides to begin sucking on the offered finger for all she is worth, trying to receive some sort of nourishment from it.

Seeing that she is content with sucking on his finger for the time being, and being quiet about it, he turns his attention back to Allen who despite everything, is still unmoving and totally unresponsive. Alma uses his free hand to scoot himself even closer to him, pulling the young neko to him and letting Allen lean against him, despite the younger's unresponsiveness.

He looks at that exceptionally pale face, noticing the prominent dark circles underneath his closed eyes, displaying just how tired he really is. Alma hears the breath coming and leaving in constant intervals from the younger neko, reassuring him that Allen is simply exhausted beyond all means, and nothing else is amiss, well besides him sleeping in the middle of a hallway, in the middle of the night, while his child is crying for his attention.

After a few minutes of her sucking, Rose seems to lose interest in the finger, seeing that it isn't giving her anything more that just something to suck on, and certainly not any milk, she releases the finger to begin her crying once again, hoping that maybe her mother will give her food this time. With the shrill cries starting up again, Alma sighs before placing Rose back into her sling, and after doing so, carefully and gently picks up Allen bridal style to make sure that Rose is still secure between Allen and himself so that she won't be in danger of falling out of the sling.

For some reason the trip back to his room takes far less time than it took Alma to find the two in his arms, but at the same time, Alma reasons that he is actually awake now, especially with all of Rose's crying, and that he now knows that one of his loves really does need his attention instead of just having a feeling that something demanded his attention. In all reality, he realizes that with the way the White Ark is designed, Rose's cries were probably resonating, causing him to go needlessly down several hallways before finding her and her 'mother', forcing him to waste time in finding the two.

In just a few minutes, Alma back in his apartment and is able to lay Allen and a still screaming Rose on his couch while he heads to his small adjoining kitchen area, trying to find something that Rose will be able to eat and make her happy, and hopefully quiet. With all of his searching, he does manage to find a small container of whole milk that he normally would have used for cooking but he figures that it will have to do for now. After all, he wasn't exactly prepared, nor expecting to be helping to take care of, let alone feed a child anytime soon.

Knowing that he doesn't have anything even resembling a bottle for Rose to use, he grabs a spare washcloth from a linin closet before heading back to the pair on his couch. Once again, he reaches down to take Rose out of her sling, her screaming the whole time. Once she is free, Alma grabs the blanket that was draped over the back of the couch and covers Allen with it, hoping that it will provide him with at least a little bit more warmth than just his pajamas. He watches as Allen tenses for a moment when the blanket is laid on top of him, but after a few moments, the tensing melts away and a small smile threatens to become visible on his features.

Satisfied that at least one of his loves is content for now, Alma turns his attention back to the screaming child in his arms. He takes her back over to the kitchen where he has been carefully heating up the milk, and away from her sleeping 'mother'. Once entering the kitchen, he checks the temperature of the milk, and after deeming it not too hot not too cold, he scrunches up his washcloth in the middle so that it forms a funnel shape. Dipping the tip of the funnel shape in the milk for a few seconds, he offers it to Rose, hoping that she will be able to just suck the milk out of the cloth.

When the cloth is brought to her lips, she rejects it at first, only ever having known that food comes from a bottle, and that most certainly is not a bottle! But after a drop of milk manages to find her lips, her small pink tongue darts out of her mouth in instinct, and after discovering food there, she hesitantly begins to suck at the cloth that the milk came from. Soon enough, Alma has to continually dip the cloth in the milk as she takes it all in greedily.

Eventually the milk has all been consumed and once Rose realizes that there isn't any more coming, she starts to scream again. Alma looks at her, confused at how she can eat so much but still be hungry. As her cries continue, and threaten to wake up Allen, Alma puts her over his shoulder, patting her back, hoping to calm her down at least a little so that he can think of what he should do next.

He doesn't have to wait too long, he feels Rose freeze for a second before he hears a small burp amongst the sound of something being spat out. A warm fluid begins to quickly make its way down his back and onto his tail, soaking almost instantly into his shirt causing him to groan in complaint as Rose seems to fall asleep almost instantly after throwing up on him. She snuggles closer to him, acting as if nothing ever happened, and the person holding her isn't covered in her puke.

Alma gives out a frustrated sigh before heading to the bathroom to clean both him and Rose off before hopefully, all three of them can sleep. He is quick to remove his puked on shirt, tossing it into the trash in the process. As he starts the water to let it warm up, he realizes that he can't just set Rose in the tub, she's still too small and can't sit up on her own yet. He leave the water running and starts looking around his apartment for something that could hold water long enough for him to clean her off so that he can finally get a shower himself.

Despite all of his looking, the only thing that mighty possibly be ok to use to bathe Rose in ends up being the bottom of an storage container that up until a few minutes ago, and been holding an extra blanket for his bed. After taking the container and sleeping Rose back into the bathroom, he is careful to adjust the temperature for her before filling up the shallow container about half way. He turns off the faucet and gently lowers Rose into the water, hoping against hope that she won't wake up.

Feeling as though luck is on his side, Alma quickly and thoroughly washes Rose before wrapping her in a soft blanket so that he can find somewhere for her to sleep and then clean the diaper that she had been wearing before the bath. In the end, he ends up drying out the same container that Rose was washed in, and after lining it with a thick blanket for comfort, he lays her in there, still wrapped in the other blanket. He sets the container and child in his room, just around the corner so that if she were to start crying again, he could be there quickly to try and calm her down.

He returns back to the bathroom once again and he starts off by washing Rose's diaper, and after discovering that he has no means to dry it himself, he hangs it on the towel rack, hoping that it will manage to dry out before Rose can manage to poop in his blanket, and her current bed.

Finally feeling that he has a few minutes, he rushes through a shower as quickly and thoroughly as he can, not wanting to feel the presence of baby puke on his back any longer than he has. The warm water prove to be a good means of relaxing, as he manages to calm down, and enter a slightly sleepy state once again.

It is in this state that Alma begins to wonder just what it would be like to have a litter or two of his own. Especially if that litter were to come from the young neko Allen Walker, who just happens to already be sleeping on his couch right now. What would it be like to be able to hold and care for those kittens, who would they look like? Would Kanda finally be able to accept him by then, and if so, would the kittens really be his or Kanda's? But by that point it really shouldn't matter, just as long at it is the three of them together, and not separate like they are now.

Once he is finally done with his shower, Alma makes a quick stop in his room to grab some fresh clothes as well as to check on Rose after having left her alone for so long. Finding the clothes proved to be no great challenge, and as an after thought, he pulls his bedding down so that he can climb in easier later, but taking his eyes off of Rose does prove to be a challenge. Taking in her sleeping form, he realizes for the first time just how little she actually resembles Allen. Her midnight locks are far to dark to have even dreamed of coming from the younger neko, and he knows that when her eyes open, the gold with silver flecks that only prove to enhance the brightness of their color and to prove her standing as a Noah, of the very people who hurt his Allen so deeply.

Turning way from such a hurtful child, he makes his way back to his couch and a still sleeping Allen. He takes a moment to admire and observe the creature before him, one of the two who have captured his heart. He lets his hand run through the silky locks, admiring the near liquid sensation against his fingers. He even chances to let one hand ghost over one of Allen's unusual ears, the very ones that marked him for what he is, a Bearer. The fur on those ears is so soft, that Alma fells that he could easily continue stroking them for eternity and never grow tired of their texture and smoothness.

Reluctantly he pulls his hand away, but he now uses both hands to carefully pick up Allen once again so that he can carry him into the bedroom. He makes his way into the room as silently as possible, trying not to wake either of his guests; he does spare Rose one glance though, just to make sure that nothing has changed. He makes his way over to the bed and carefully lays Allen upon it, taking care to remove the sling that he's still been wearing ever since leaving his own apartment earlier that night. Alma folds the cloth sling and places it by Rose before walking around to the other side and climbing in himself.

He reaches down to pull the blankets over both him and Allen, but before he let's them settle over Allen, he takes a moment to give his love a lingering kiss on the cheek before letting the blankets fall into place. After that he turns on his side so that he can face Allen, and reaches over with his free arm to pull the younger neko closer to him, and places another kiss on the top of his head is close enough.

He looks down when he feels a slight tugging at his shit, finding Allen's hands fisted in it, hold on to it like it's a lifeline. A warm smile brightens Alma's face, and he whispers, "I love you" to the neko in his arms. Just the thought and feeling of holding onto Allen is more than enough to allow Alma to descend quickly into a deep sleep.

He falls asleep just before Allen murmurs "Kanda" into the night air.


	17. Missing Moyashi

Chapter 16

Kanda

Kanda wakes instantly from his deep slumber when he hears his Moyashi call out to him. It's the same feeling every time, that urge to make sure that the Moyashi really is there beside him, and that everything that has happened in the past few months hasn't been some wonderful, yet tauntingly horrible dream. He sometimes dreads waking to reality, thinking that he will learn to expect his Moyashi to still be there, only find that this has all been merely a dream and that the reality is that Moyashi is still nowhere to be found.

He reaches out with his arm to pull his Moyashi closer, hoping that the contact will sooth him, just being able to physically hold the younger neko and reassure him of his presence, and possibly help what is probably just another nightmare, to fade into a more peaceful slumber. When his arm wraps around nothing but air, Kanda feels around the Moyashi's normal sleeping spot for a few moments, wondering just where the Moyashi wiggled off to this time. Having no success at searching blindly for the younger neko, and discovering that side of the bed is rather cold for someone to have left it not too long ago, Kanda finally opens his eyes, already exhausted with the thought of even moving across the room.

However, Kanda manages to sit up, pull off the blankets and begin the weary task of wandering into the next room to see if the Moyashi needs any help feeding or changing Rose, something that is most likely the cause of the younger neko's absence. It happens practically every night, the baby will wake up needing some type of attention, food, or changing, so it's crying will wake the Moyashi and he'll drag his sleep deprived self over to see just what is the matter. Usually, if he is gone for more than just a few minutes, Kanda will wake from his absence and find him elsewhere in their apartment, most likely holding the baby for something or another, but having managed to fall back asleep wherever he happened to be standing or sitting at the time.

So when Kanda discovers that neither Rose nor the Moyashi are currently in the nursery, Kanda doesn't even have to bat an eye. This is fairly typical, and nothing to worry about, after all, the apartment is only made up of a few rooms, and it's not like his Moyashi would go to far out of the apartment if he had to, especially this late at night, and even more so since he seems to have Rose with him.

Kanda releases a small sigh before heading out to search other areas of the apartment that he remembers finding the Moyashi sleeping in before. He checks the kitchen, bathroom, living room, and yet no matter where he looks, he can't seem to find the Moyashi or Rose anywhere. Giving a sigh of frustration, Kanda goes back and rechecks all of the rooms in the apartment, making sure to turn on all of the lights this time, leaving nowhere unsearched, figuring that he probably just overlooked seeing his Moyashi at this late hour, or that maybe he just looked in the wrong spot and will go back only to find Allen leading against a dresser or something instead of sitting on a chair or leaning against a wall.

Figuring that somehow, he must have just missed his Moyashi despite all of his searching, Kanda heads back to bed, figuring that his Moyashi will probably already be there waiting for him, or already fast asleep. Kanda shuffles back into the room, and immediately his eyes are drawn to the bed. A bed that is unmade and completely devoid of anyone, neko or otherwise.

Realizing that his Moyashi and child are nowhere in the apartment, Kanda grabs a bathrobe and a pair of shoes before heading further into the White Ark. His first stop is the cafeteria, figuring that his Moyashi probably is just hungry after being woken up at such an early hour, it's happened before and usually the Moyashi can be found fast asleep at one of the tables, Rose in his arms while the cook, Jerry, keeps watch over him. But when he doesn't see Allen with a first glance around the room, Kanda makes his way further in, hoping to spot his Moyashi this way. Seeing that the entire room is for the most part, deserted apart from those who work various night shifts around the White Ark, Kanda promptly leaves, heading across the hall to the elevator, and hopefully the hiding spot of his missing Moyashi.

Upon arriving at one of the lower levels, Kanda proceeds directly into the forest area, careful to stop for a moment and let his eyes adjust to the lower light and allowing for some time to let his night vision become more prominent. He quickly makes his way through the trees and bushes into the very heart of the small indoor forest, the home of the giant redwood. This wouldn't be the first time that he's found his Moyashi here either, whether it is to spend some time at the graves of his dead litter, or to simply sit in the great tree that towers above the rest of the room. However, it has only ever been once or twice that he has found his Moyashi here this late at night, and those few occurrences were both just after the death of the young neko's litter.

After Kanda's eyes have finally adjusted to the darkness, he first makes his way over to the root that serves as a marker to the small graves below it. The soil is still dark and moist as it covers the small forms hidden beneath it, but the surrounding grass is still upright and undisturbed, indicating that it has been at least a few days since someone last stayed there for an extended period of time.

Kanda makes his way over to the trunk of the redwood, taking a second to appreciate its sheer size and age, knowing that this tree has seen more history than he'll probably ever see throughout his entire life. He starts his climb up to what seems to be his Moyashi's favorite branch, one that his just large enough for the younger neko to sit on, and that it sticks out further into the forest so that he can sit in the rain if he so chooses. Finding the branch empty, Kanda carefully shifts his weight onto it, hoping that maybe this height advantage will allow him to find out where exactly his Moyashi disappeared to, assuming that he is in the forest area at all.

A slight rattling of leaves alerts him to two other presences in the tree one much closer than the other, but he pays them little mind, the weight and movements of the newcomers aren't his Moyashi. Most likely they are just Fou and Bak Chan taking a few minutes to care for the gift that was left to them by the family that rescued both of them.

A soft voice is carried down to him from one or two branches above him. "He's not here you know. I saw him wandering through the halls about an hour ago. I think he had Rose with him." An orange tail falls into his line of vision. "But I wouldn't worry too much, I saw Alma heading the same way not too long ago."

A flash of red clouds Kanda's vision. Just hearing that Alma might be that close to his Moyashi, knowing that the Moyashi is far too naïve enough to realize what is going on, and knowing that Alma will most likely take full advantage of that, it is nearly enough to make his blood boil. No one is allowed to be close to his Moyashi with out his permission! But Alma defiantly isn't one of those privileged few, the neko has no self-control and doesn't know when to keep his paws to himself, or that a 'no' really does mean 'no'.

He quickly climbs down the giant tree before racing back up through the hallways, hoping to find his Moyashi along the way before Alma does. In just a few minutes, Kanda finds himself in front of the door leading into Alma's apartment; his breathing is harder and faster than normal, just from the amount of adrenaline pouring through his veins, forcing his heart to beat ever faster and faster. Rage is threating to paint his world red once again, staining everything before him. Without even asking permission or knocking first, he throws open the door to the smaller apartment, eyes frantically searching for any signs of his Moyashi, or even of Rose.

He makes his way quickly and thoroughly through the apartment, leaving no area unsearched or unseen in his desperate search. Nothing is left untouched or unmoved as Kanda desperately searches for his Moyashi and child. After making sure that everything is back in its original place, he steps back for a second.

It quickly becomes apparent that neither his Moyashi nor his child are here, and seeing how he really doesn't want any sort of encounter with Alma for the time being, he makes to exit the room and leave it behind him as quickly as possible. However, with his hand on the knob, he stops to give the room one last look, hoping against hope to see the white tip of a bushy tail rounding a corner somewhere. With a sigh he finally leaves the room, knowing that there is nothing for him to find there.

He begins to walk down random hallways, continually hoping to stumble across his Moyashi, but also keeping an ear open incase Alma should try to approach him. Running into the other neko is something that he really doesn't want to face right now. Not only could it lead to why Kanda was in his apartment in the first place, but knowing Alma, he would insist on following Kanda and aiding in the search for the Moyashi. And while another set of eyes could be nice, the fact that the owner of this pair wants both the Moyashi and Kanda as his lovers is a bit too much for Kanda to handle. Moreover, if Alma does succeed in finding the Moyashi, then many of the past suggestions and innuendos will probably come up once again, and Kanda knows that even his Moyashi isn't that innocent to not understand what Alma is hinting at, and that is something that Kanda does not want to have to deal with.

It is during these mindless wanderings that he pauses for a moment, not quite understanding what he is hearing, or at least thinks that he is hearing. A very faint crying can be heard, not the loud sob of a child or someone older, but one of a very upset baby and probably hungry. Why anyone would be wandering around this late at night with such a disgruntled baby is far beyond Kanda's understanding.

But at the same time, his Moyashi is somewhere in the White Ark wandering around with Rose, and as far as Kanda knows, his Moyashi is the only one, neko or human, to have a child that young at this point in time. It takes a moment for that realization to sink in, but once it does, Kanda starts tearing through the hallways, trying desperately to locate the source of the crying.

Making sure to keep the crying at the forefront of his mind, Kanda follows it as much as he can and at times the crying seems to be exceedingly far away, but others it seems like he is right next to the child even though there is not another soul in the immediate area. He knows that sometimes the halls can twist and shift sounds, making it seem nearly impossible to track anyone or anything based only on a sound, but at the same time, any possible sign of his Moyashi is better than none.

He follows the sound for what seems like hours, the echoes all too soon becoming distant and faded. After several minutes of not being able to hear anything other than his own panicked heartbeat, Kanda finally looks about to see where exactly he is.

Across the hall from him is a window looking out into one of the higher levels of the forest area, and at just the right angle, he can see another window across that room, and through it, he can see the cafeteria. Knowing that all he needs to actually return to the cafeteria is to just follow the hallway to the right, he proceeds, hoping that someone inside will know where his Moyashi and child are.

As he makes his way to the cafeteria, Kanda notes that the sun is already beginning to light the forest, meaning that morning is in progress and more people will be about, meaning a greater chance of someone having seen the Moyashi. He meets a few people on his way to the cafeteria, many of them pausing to say hello, but he ignores them for the most part, knowing that most of them don't know the Moyashi, meaning that he probably would have never approached them, even if the younger neko was lost.

Once he enters the cafeteria, he quickly scans the gathering crowd, looking for anyone familiar that either knows the Moyashi, or at least knows of him. His attention is immediately directed to the back of the room where the Baka Usagi is doing something that obviously involves greatly exaggerated gestures that are obviously making the female neko across from him rather uncomfortable. Kanda heads directly towards their table, ignoring the eyes that follow him across the room.

As he approaches the table, the brown-haired neko woman turns her attention on him before blushing and looking down at her feet, but doesn't try to engage him into any sort of conversation. Lavi on the other hand, doesn't even pause his motions as Kanda approaches, either ignoring him, or just to involved with his own story to notice the taller neko. Kanda stands beside him, waiting for the obnoxious redhead to finally notice him, but he is paid no attention. Eventually Kanda becomes annoyed enough that he reaches out and grabs Lavi's hand during a particularly wide gesture.

The redhead turns a bright smile on the taller neko, attempting to pull his hand out of the other's grasp. "Hey Yuu! Didn't see you there." His smile never faltering as he looks behind the taller neko for Allen and Rose, despite the glare being directed his way. "So where's Allen and Rose? I know that the three of you don't normally come down here for breakfast, but usually you're still all together." His brow furrows as he contemplates what he just said for a second. "Yuu, did something happen to Allen or Rose? Are they ok? Are they sick or something?"

Kanda tries to keep himself from grinding his teeth every time the Baka Usagi uses his given name, but at the same time, he knows that this isn't the time to encourage any of the usual comebacks from the Usagi. With a very tense voice he replies, "I don't know. If I did, do you honestly think that I would be here instead of back home eating a peaceful breakfast with them? I was hoping that you might know something, or even know where they're at."

Lavi thinks for a second before coming up with an obvious question. "Did you try looking in the forest area or the surrounding hallways? I know that he likes to spend a lot of his time there, or at least in that area."

"He's not there, and he's not in our apartment or in any of the other wings and places that I've found him sleeping before. Believe me, those the first places I checked like most people who know the Moyashi would."

"Did you try asking Alma or looking at his place to see if Allen is there or at least close to there? I know you might not like the guy much right now, despite how much he claims to like both you and Allen." Kanda scoffs, "But you never know, he might actually know something. He is one of the best trackers for people in the White Ark after all."

There is a long and tense pause before a small voice speaks up. "Did you say that Allen is missing? I saw him earlier and thought that he was ok seeing that he was with Alma earlier this morning, so I didn't try to stop him." She trembles for a second, still staring at the floor. "If I'd known that someone was looking for Allen I would have said something." Another pause. "I'M SO SORRY! I'VE FAILED YOU AND NOW ALLEN IS MISSING ALL BECAUSE OF ME!" She begins to sob rather loudly, calling attention to the trio at the table.

Lavi and Kanda both switch their attention to the sobbing neko before them, one in shock the other in a tried patience. Lavi is the first to speak. "Miranda, there is no way that you could have known that Allen was missing, after all, he seemed to be in good hands, right?" Kanda shoots Lavi a glare, before listening for a response. "Now, I need you to try and remember some things for me, ok?" She gives a small, teary nod. "Where and when was it that you saw Allen and Alma?"

She is quiet for a few moments before taking a shaky breath. "I was on the way back to my room after a late meeting with Krory, I had just rounded a corner onto the main hallway that runs by the forest area on my floor. Alma was carrying Allen towards his room; from what I could see, I think that Allen might have been sleeping. But I'm not completely sure of that." She falls silent, tears still slipping down her face. Lavi puts a hand on her back and starts to rub soothing circles on it, trying to calm her down as best as he can for now.

Kanda, on the other hand, is already setting off out of the cafeteria, red once again starting to paint his vision. His steps are quick and heavy with purpose as he makes his way up the few levels, back to the apartment of the one neko that he wants nothing to do with at this point in time. The journey takes less time than before since his destination is already known and predetermined. He once again, fails to knock before he throws the door open, eyes widening at the sight before him.

Alma turns around to see just who is entering his home uninvited, especially at this early morning hour, but his hand remains on the small of the Moyashi's back as the younger neko stirs something in a pan on the small stove in front of them. When Kanda realizes that his Moyashi isn't even reacting to his uninvited entrance, or especially to the placement of Alma's hand, his vision is completely drenched in red. He wastes no time in rushing towards Alma, rage pouring off his entire being.

"How dare you! How dare you try to sneak away with what is mine, thinking that I wouldn't notice or care!" He thrusts out his hand to grab the collar of Alma's shirt, feeling somewhat confused when the older neko doesn't even try to stop him. But at the same time, the rage is just too much as his hands shake as he tries to hold himself back in front of the Moyashi, who is now staring at him with his mouth open in surprise and shock.

Alma responds to the accusations coolly. "I didn't do anything that I didn't thinks that you weren't already aware of. Seeing Allen asleep on the floor with Rose crying for something to eat was obviously not answered by you, and I knew that I had to do something. And I figured that if they were out at that hour you must have knows, so I couldn't just leave them there and pretend to not have seen anything!"

"You could have brought them back home! That's what anyone with sense would have done!"

"I just happen to live much closer to where they were than you. And with the condition they were in, I thought that it would be more appropriate to just bring them here and help them as soon as possible. Is that a crime? If so then I'm sorry for trying to help out when one of my loves needs my help for a change."

Kanda opens his mouth to reply, but stops when he feels something grab and tug on his arm. He looks down to see his Moyashi staring at him, tears in his surprisingly angry eyes. "Stop it! JUST STOP IT!" Kanda is at a loss of words, and even Alma seems a bit taken aback by the small one's statement.

Once he seems satisfied that Kanda and Alma have reached a point where won't kill each other if he leaves the room for a moment, he disappears as the two try to stare each other down. He reappears just a few minutes later with Rose securely sleeping in her sling.

He turns first to Alma. "I'm sorry for all of the trouble I've caused you. Hopefully I'll be able to make it up to you, for the both of us." He shoots Kanda a very meaningful glance. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll be taking my leave and my idiot lover with me." With that he gives Alma one last small, sad smile before spinning around to grab Kanda's arm and pull him from the apartment before he can do or say anything else.


	18. Becoming Mates

Chapter 17

Allen could not believe Kanda's behavior! Sure he was a bit surprised himself when he woke in a strange room and bed without even Rose or Kanda in sight, but after a minute of looking around and seeing familiar items and recognizing the familiar scent that he knew belonged only to Alma, he immediately calmed down and became much more relaxed about the situation. He had sat in the bed for a few more minutes before climbing out from under the all too inviting blankets only to find Rose sound asleep in a makeshift bed not that far from him at all. He had taken a moment to look her over and make sure that she was alright and comfortable before making his way out of the room as quietly as possible.

Once out of the room, he had smelled something coming from the kitchen and went to investigate. There he found Alma looking very tiredly at his half full coffee pot. It took him a moment to notice that Allen had entered the room, and when he did he tried to urge Allen back in to bed, insisting that he had everything under control for now.

When Allen had asked about how he happened to get there in the first place, Alma had been able to respond easily with the truth, still insisting that if Allen had been so tired as to fall asleep in a hallway while Rose was crying, he really needed to get back to bed and rest while he could. The only problem was that by the time that Alma finished with his explanation, Allen was already fully awake.

It was at this point that Allen had started to look in the fridge for something to eat, and maybe for something to feed Rose with later. When Alma had asked what he was doing, Allen had simply smiled and said that he would make breakfast for everyone, considering he was already awake. At first Alma had tried to stop him, insisting that since Allen was the guest, he shouldn't have to, but the younger neko proved to be rather persistent until Alma had no choice but to let the younger neko cook for him.

It was during this time that Alma first placed his hand on the small of Allen's back while watching the white neko cook. At first Allen had thought that it must have been an accidental placement, or meant as a simple pat on the back that was just a bit too low, and that very soon, the hand would move, but when it didn't, he had turned to tell Alma to remove it.

It was during that time that Alma and leaned down and had tried to kiss Allen, but seeing what was about to happen, he turned his head away. Alma had backed off and when Allen had tried to explain that he was uncomfortable with Alma's actions, the older neko had agreed to stop them just as long as he was still allowed to hold him close. Not wanting to potentially lose a good friend, Allen had agreed and Alma's hand went back to its former resting place, to Allen's chagrin.

It was just after this that the door had burst open. At first Allen didn't think anything of it, thinking that it was probably someone coming to see Alma with important news or information, he did work for the Black Order after all. But that assumption was quickly altered when he felt a very familiar presence behind him. He turned around just in time to see Kanda grab the front of Alma's shirt in a clear threat. The fact that Kanda would ever do something like that to someone that was their friend deeply confused Allen. But after hearing what Kanda was accusing Alma of, it all made horrifying sense.

And while he could easily begin to see where Kanda was coming from, at the same time, it still didn't give him the right to do what he was doing. Just seeing the two of them like that, one that he had known his whole life, and the other that he had met only just recently, but still considered a dear friend, it hurt his heart very deeply.

He didn't know what it was, but something inside of him snapped at that moment, and the next thing he knew he was pulling on Kanda's arm, yelling at the two of them. It wasn't until he saw their faces that he came to realize what he had done, but at the same time, he wouldn't have changed his actions even if he could have.

It took him a moment to be convinced that the two were too busy staring each other down to do anything if he left the room for a few minutes to collect Rose. He made his way back to Alma's room as quickly as he could, and when he picked up Rose and she started to fuss, he took a few minutes to calm her down and make sure that she was settled back into her sling before heading back out to face the two older, very angry nekos.

Seeing the two still locked in their staring contest made Allen internally sigh, thinking that this was what he got for being around strong willed people. But at the same time, he knew that he needed to separate the two of them quickly before they started to try and attack each other again.

Before he left he made sure to apologize to Alma, but at the same time, trying to convey that he didn't approve of all of Alma's earlier actions. The other seemed to get the message, but at the same time, might have only been doing it to put the younger neko more at ease, or at least to try to make Kanda more at ease. After the apologies, Allen made sure to grab onto Kanda's arm and steer him out of the room, lest he try to go back and fight with Alma again.

Now after a very tense and silent walk, they are back in their own apartment, but Allen refuses to meet Kanda's gaze as he sets about making sure that Rose is properly fed and settled back into her crib. After making sure that his child is taken care of, Allen takes care to close the door to her room behind him, something he rarely ever does.

He turns to face Kanda, who up until now has been standing dejectedly in the small kitchen area, acting much like a scolded child, but the flames of discontent are still evident in his eyes. Allen takes a moment to take a deep breath to try and steady his nerves a bit more before slowly making his way over to the older neko. He stops on the opposite end of the kitchen, staring at Kanda, waiting for him to acknowledge his presence somehow, or at least move.

When it is clear that the other either refuses to acknowledge him, or is still too consumed by his own emotions to respond, Allen's face becomes completely blank before he speaks in the strongest and demanding voice he can muster at the moment. "How could you do something like that? What could have possibly compelled you to treat Alma that way? I thought he was your friend!"

Kanda's head snaps up, staring back at Allen, anger and hurt swirling chaotically throughout his features. "A friend does not try to steal the possessions of their friend. A friend knows when to back off and just let things be before they get out of hand."

"Oh? You mean like what you're doing right now? Letting things get out of hand? Because that's all I see at the moment. You say that I'm your possession, but has your jealousy blinded you to the truth?" A threatening tone begins to creep into Allen's voice, but his eyes shine dangerously.

Kanda gives him an incredulous look. "Don't talk of things that you don't fully understand. There is more to this than what you think that you know. So just drop this before anything else happens and I end up doing something that I'll regret later."

Allen's eyes widen in fury and he clenches his hands into tight fists. "Do you honestly think so little of me? To think that I wouldn't notice the change in the way the two of you behaved around each other? Why else do you think I would have tried to pull you two together more, to try for the two of you to have peace and not this strained relationship that you have now."

Kanda's eyes narrow, and his voice becomes strained. "You know nothing of our relationship, then or now. You should stay out of things that don't concern you."

"Doesn't concern me? What part of this doesn't concern me! I know a lot more than you think I do. I know that Alma took an interest in you sometime while we were separated; even a blind fool could see that. "

"That was the past, it doesn't concern you now."

"Like hell it doesn't concern me! I know that those feelings of his for you still remain, and I know that he now sees me in the same light. But at least I know when to put my foot down on certain issues, but still be able to carry out a friendship, one that you seem pretty damn determined to control I might add."

"So you knew the reasons behind his actions towards you, and yet you let them continue? Do I displease you so much that you have to seek a mate elsewhere?"

Allen is taken aback by this statement, his anger rushing out of him. His head falls, and his voice becomes barely audible as it begins to crack. "How can you say something like that? What have I done to show disloyalty to you? You are the one I gave my heart to, why would I ever need to look anywhere else?"

At his words, Kanda's anger begins to ebb away, but something in Allen's tone does not seem to sit well with him, so he crosses the remaining distance between them and reaches out to carefully take Allen's head in his hands, gently tilting it upwards to search for truth in the younger neko's eyes. But when he looks, his heart stops as the truth swirls in those liquid metal depths, becoming even more molten as it mixes with the tears that are now silently making their escape.

The face before him erases all traces of doubt and anger out of Kanda. Instead, the overwhelming desire to protect and love the one before him grows until it seems to blaze under his very skin. At first he tries to hold himself back from doing anything too rash, but eventually he can't stop himself as he claims the lush lips before him.

At first Allen is confused as to what Kanda is doing, after all, they are in the middle of an argument, and yet here he is, holding his head ever so gently and kissing him as though there was never anything between them. Allen tries to pull away, his unease with everything that has happened this morning still fresh in his mind, but Kanda's hands hold him still and his resistance is weak.

Slowly and subtly, Allen feels the tip of Kanda's tongue graze the seam of his lips, as though hesitant to ask for entrance. At first, he refuses, choosing to press forward and give some of the kisses, instead of just receiving them. Kanda seems to pause for a second at this, but only begins to bring their lips together more aggressively, making sure that they only time that they are not touching, is when they both are in need of air, but even then, only a few inches separate the two as their foreheads remain touching one another.

Allen gasps for a moment when he feels Kanda's hands leave his face and rub down his sides before stopping for a moment and squeezing his behind. That gives Kanda just enough time to plunge his tongue into Allen's mouth. Kanda wastes no time in making sure to rub his tongue over everything that he can, trying to memorize every nook and cranny of the smaller neko's mouth. And while he eventually does pull his tongue out so that the two of them can breath, he plunges back in almost immediately, this time taking a slower, more sensual approach as he tries to memorize the very taste that is his Moyashi.

Trying not to break the kiss, Allen carefully, and slowly presses his hands against Kanda's chest, marveling at just how hot it is to his touch and he slowly begins to trail his hands upwards to wrap around Kanda's neck to pull him closer still. The older neko gives a slight sliver at the trailing hands, and is quick to give Allen's behind another squeeze before reaching behind his knees to lift him up for better access to the mouth before him.

Eventually Kanda begins to shower Allen's face and neck with small butterfly kisses, only to find a rather sensitive spot just between his neck and shoulder that he pays much more attention to, making sure to lick and suck on that spot so that it leaves a nice bright red mark behind. Whenever he sucks on that particular spot, Allen's head rolls back as he relaxes, and his muscles become less taunt, forcing Kanda to make sure that he has a firm hold on the younger, less he accidently drop him in such a relaxed state.

Whenever Kanda does this, Allen feels like he is slowly losing himself to the heat that is radiating between the two of them, that it is fogging his mind and allowing all other thoughts to leave him. For his part, he is still trying to kiss and nip at whatever part of Kanda he can reach; making sure that his own mark will be visible as well.

Allen is so lost in the sensations of everything going on around him that he doesn't even notices when Kanda starts making his way towards their bedroom and out of the kitchen. His mind barely even registers when he is suddenly placed on the bed as Kanda quickly slips his slightly oversized nightshirt over his head before removing his own.

Kanda wastes no time in distracting his Moyashi again by encouraging him to participate again in their earlier ministrations. Only now with more skin showing and more room, Kanda begins to trail his kisses and nips down past Allen's neck and onto his chest and stomach.

Allen knows that they have done things like this before, the touching and kissing, but they have never ventured farther than that. Between Allen's disastrous first time leaving him emotionally unready, and Kanda being able and willing to wait until Allen is ready, nothing has truly happened between them, and by neko tradition, they aren't even officially mates yet seeing as they have yet to do the actual act.

But there is something in the back of his mind telling him that something is different this time. That there is no longer any need to be afraid because it is Kanda that will be with him, and no one else. And while he's not completely sure if this is what he wants, he knows that he wants to be able to claim Kanda as his mate, and if it means having to face the uncertainity of what will happen, he knows that Kanda will stop if he asks him. But for now, he just wants to be able to do something for Kanda for a change.

He lets himself fall into the heat and sensations around him, noticing how careful and loving Kanda is being, but at the same time, feeling the strain of his erection beginning to make itself known. Allen knows that he won't last too much longer, but he wants for Kanda to be able to cum too, knowing that the other will probably need some type of release soon.

He sits up, effectively halting Kanda's administrations. The older neko looks down on him with dark lust filled eyes, taking in Allen's motions as he slowly pulls Kanda's pants lower until he can start palming the older neko's erection through the single remaining layer of clothing.

Kanda taking the hint, stands up for a moment to discard his remaining clothing, but does not go back to touching the Moyashi until he too has been completely disrobed. The two stare at each other for a moment, each sporting a slight blush at seeing the other without clothes, even though it isn't the first time that they've found themselves in this position before.

Normally this is about where they end up stopping and going their separate ways to deal with their demanding erections, so Kanda is very pleasantly surprised when Allen leans forward, making sure that their throbbing erections rub against one another for just a moment before whispering huskily in Kanda's ear.

"Don't stop."

Allen can see something flash in the corner of Kanda's eye, but before he has time to figure out exactly what it was, he finds himself once more on his back as Kanda is now kissing him in earnest, now a bit more aggressive then before. He feels his entire frame shake as Kanda begins to rub up and down his sides before the overly warm hands leave as Kanda's tongue begins to make it's way back towards Allen's stomach.

Allen is completely lost in a haze of pleasure as he feels Kanda begin to suck and nip at his sensitive nipples, causing his mind to go blank and not completely notice the single slick finger that has found its way into his entrance. He can feel something moving down there, but for the moment all he cares about are the sensations that Kanda is bringing to him.

However, he does begin to become uncomfortable when a second finger is added. He can tell by the amount of extra care in distracting him, that Kanda really doesn't want him to be in pain, and while he isn't for the moment it is nothing more than uncomfortable, he knows that there is still more to come, and that nothing he has felt so far will be able to stop the impending pain.

He tries to concentrate only on Kanda, especially once the older neko returns to claim his mouth once again, but even that doesn't stop him from letting out a whimper of pain as a third finger is added and begins to move inside of him. He tries to hold back his whimper, but he can see that Kanda is growing concerned that he is hurt him.

Allen tries to relay that he is fine, that Kanda should continue, but Kanda doesn't seem fully convinced of this. In one slow movement, Kanda's fingers move once more, only this time one of them manages to brush something inside of Allen that has him feeling nothing but white pleasure. He can feel his body arch closer to Kanda, his head being thrown back as the pleasure fills him for a moment.

Suddenly the fingers are removed and Allen has a vague sense of loss from where they were, but he doesn't have too long to dwell on this as he can feel the tip of something much larger than the fingers. He cracks open his eyes and sees Kanda giving him a questioning look, and when Allen gives a slight nod, Kanda slowly begins to push into Allen.

Allen can feel his muscles clenching as the pain seems to grow as Kanda slowly makes his way inside, but soon tears are flooding too much of Allen's vision for him to see how Kanda is responding to this. All he can feel is Kanda moving forward before stopping for a minute. That gives Allen a bit of time to adjust to this new size inside of him, though he still feels a bit more stretched then he thinks is right.

Slowly Kanda begins to back out, leaving just the tip inside, before slowly thrusting in again. He still gives Allen some time to adjust, but each repeating time the thrusting becomes just a little faster and the adjustment time just a little bit less until Kanda is setting a steady pace without any stopping.

The sensation is strange for Allen, he can still feel his own need becoming even more painfully hard with each of Kanda's thrusts, but he feels no pleasure beyond that and Kanda's mouth that is still gently sucking on the spot between his neck and shoulder. Eventually, Kanda shifts ever so slightly and Allen is once again greeted by that wave of white pleasure.

Seeing Allen react like that, Kanda then makes an effort to hit that spot each and every time. Loving the way that Allen makes a face of absolute pleasure, and how tight the younger neko is around his throbbing need. Kanda catches a glimpse of Allen reaching to start pleasuring himself, but Kanda moves one of his hands and begins the ministrations himself.

Allen arches even farther off the bed as his body is now wracked with pleasure from two sources, making any other thought or feeling practically nonexistent. He can feel an even more intense heat than before coiling in his lower stomach, signaling that he will reach his release soon. When the pressure becomes too much he tries to warn Kanda, but no sound escapes his mouth other than a silent scream of pleasure as he releases onto both of their stomachs.

Kanda feels the walls around him constrict as his Moyashi releases beneath him, and that is just enough to send him over the edge as well, making sure to thrust a few more times so that the Moyashi will be able to take all of his seed.

Allen begins to come off of his wave of pleasure when he suddenly has the feeling of being filled with a thick, hot substance. The feeling is not completely comfortable, but it becomes more bearable when he feels Kanda slid out of him. The older neko collapses beside him, both panting as they ride the last of their pleasure and from the intense heat of the situation.

As they both begin to surrender to their exhaustion, Kanda gently grabs Allen around his middle and pulls him close. He leans closer to him and whispers in his ear, "Now you truly are my mate."

….

Kanda wakes from one of the best rests he has had in many a night. He smiles a bit, as the memory of becoming mates floods through is mind. He looks over at his still sleeping mate, who now seems to almost shimmer in the after glow of their actions.

Kanda reaches a hand over to lightly brush some of the Moyashi's hair out of his face, only to find a small smile decorating the face of his lover. Kanda leans forward to let a kiss brush against his forehead before backing off to let the other continue to slumber.

As he stands he notices that there is still ample evidence from their activities, and he crosses the room and digs in the dresser for a moment before heading back to the bed with a white cloth in hand. He is careful not to disturb his Moyashi as he tries to wipe off as much of the drying cum as he can without them actually washing anything, including themselves.

After deciding that the rest can just be cleaned of its respective surfaces later, Kanda leaves the cloth at the end of the bed before grabbing a set of clean clothes to go shower and then check in on Rose, supposing that his Moyashi hasn't woken up yet.

He gives his Moyashi one last look before leaving the room, smirking as he realizes that everything is going to change from now on. He knows that he probably shouldn't have taken advantage of his Moyashi like that, even if his own heat was becoming too much for him, but at the same time, he wouldn't have changed anything. After all, they are officially mates as a result.

…...

Allen slowly wakes, trying to linger in the dream world as long as possible, after all, even though he can't remember what he was dreaming about just now, he does remember that it left him with the best feeling that he's ever had. However, the sound of water running in the bathroom is just enough to convince him to open his eyes, letting the dream world escape once more.

As his eyes adjust to the low light of the room, Allen notices that Kanda is gone from his side of the bed, and after reaching a hand over and discovering some lingering heat, that it must not have been too long ago that he left, presumably to take a shower. Allen leans towards the heat for a minute before feeling something slightly crusty under him. He sits up, but has to stop for a moment as his backside throbs in rejection of his movements.

He sees the mess left behind from their lovemaking the night before, and can't help but smile. He knows that this will change everything about their relationship, but at the same time, it's what both of them wanted.

As he looks about for a little longer, he slowly starts to become aware of the cum that has dried to his chest, and is feeling rather itchy and uncomfortable. He initially goes to reach for a blanket, figuring that they will just be washed later anyways, but then he notices the white cloth at the end of the bed that seems to already have some cum stuck on it, so he figures it won't matter if he adds anymore to it.

He begins to rub at the cum on his chest, confused as to why the feeling of this cloth against his skin is so familiar, and yet he knows that he hasn't worn any sort of white pants since he was held in the Black Ark. He holds them in front of him, glaring at them when he realizes that they are the pants he had worn at the Black Ark.

Seeing as he would rather just burn those cloths then have to remember anything because of them, he throws them across the room, but jumps slightly when he hears the sound of something small but hard hitting the dresser.

Ignoring his aching backside, Allen carefully climbs off of the bed and heads over to where the pants are now heaped in a pile. He stops is journey over there when he feels something hard under his hand. When he picks it up and uncurls his hand to see just what it is, his heart stops for a moment.

In his hand is the small tracking device that he thought he had long since lost when the White Ark had launched its raid against the Black Ark. He knows that it is the real one since the fake that Neah gave him is still in his ear.

Allen can't stop staring at the small device in his hand, knowing that this thing has indirectly led the Millennium Earl directly to everything that he hold dear, and he knows that it is only a matter of time before the Earl comes and destroys all of that.


	19. Morning Surprises

Chapter 18

Allen continued to stare at the small, cold tracking device in his hand. Never would he have imagined, even in his wildest dreams, that one of the few things he was so sure that he had lost during the rescue mission from the White Ark, would come back to haunt him, especially after all this time. He knew that there was always a slim possibility of something like this happening, but as of late, those thoughts had begun to disappear from his mind, and some aspects were all but forgotten.

But now, with reality staring back at him, he knows that everything he thought that he knew and had known up until now is going to be put into jeopardy once again. And all because of this one small, seemingly innocent device.

He knows that he needs to try and not panic, but he can't help that his mind is now completely distracted. Allen tries to force himself to concentrate, to find something that he can do without thinking, just so he has to think about it. But in the end he ends up mechanically beginning to search through various drawers in the dresser next to him, pulling out random articles of his clothing, all the while still having his head spin with this new fear.

As he silently works on getting himself dressed, he doesn't even notice when Kanda enters the room, still fairly wet from his shower, with naught but a towel wrapped around his waist. He doesn't notice the soft steps that make their way across the carpet in his direction. He hardly even notices when two slightly damp arms grab him from behind as Kanda settles besides him and begins to nuzzle his neck while his long hair tickles his back.

"What are you doing over here? I thought that you would still be sleeping everything off." A slight chuckle reverberates through Kanda's chest. He pulls Allen just a bit closer to him, trying to get a better reaction from his newly made mate, but it is the subtle shaking of his mate that alerts him of Allen's distress. Concern immediately washes through Kanda. "What is it? What's wrong? Did I hurt you?"

Allen looks up at him, unshed tears thick in his eyes, threatening to spill over. "This" he holds up the small tracking device, "this is what's wrong."

Kanda carefully picks the device out of Allen's hand and examines it for a moment. "What exactly is this? It looks exactly like . . ." His voice trails off as he becomes confused with the sight of an exact duplicate of the earing that is still in his Moyashi's ear from when Alma was supposed to have made the switch back before the rescue mission to the Black Ark.

"Th – this is the tr – tracker they put on me back at tha – that place." Allen's voice cracks and shakes as he tries to keep himself together. He knows that if he loses control of his emotions now, it will only make it harder when he has to confess to the others that he has been endangering the White Ark and its occupants this entire time.

Allen hangs his head in grief and shame, not noticing Kanda fist the hand that holds the earing. His hand shaking at the memories of what that place had done not only to himself, but especially to his mate. He knows that they must do something and quickly if they are to have any peace of mind later, but for now he has something more important he mist tend to, the wellbeing of his mate and child.

However, Allen does feel the remaining arm around him tighten, bringing him even closer to the warm, comforting body behind him. "Don't worry about it too much. If we've been here this long and nothing's happened, then there is a good chance that nothing will happen for a while longer, and that means that we have time to prepare and try to throw them off our tracks." His neck is nuzzled once again. "Now, how about you go worry about cleaning yourself up a bit and I'll go start warming up some milk for Rose. After that we'll go and talk to Komui and Bak about this. That sound alright to you?"

For as much as Allen would rather not prolong the inevitable, he knows that what Kanda says is true. Besides, as much as it pains him to say, taking the time to clean himself off might not be such a bad idea, especially with the evidence of last night still prevalent on his stomach and thighs, and becoming rather uncomfortable. That, and taking the time to clean up a bit might just give him the opportunity he needs to calm down and be able to explain the situation much more calmly later on, not only to the others, but to himself as well.

He slowly nods, but enough so that he knows that Kanda will understand, and before he leaves, Kanda gives him one last lingering kiss on the neck before backing off from the younger neko. For a moment afterwards, Allen wishes that Kanda would hold him again, just for a minute, just long enough for him to put himself back together enough to continue the day. But at the same time, he knows that he needs to be able to get up and move on his own, otherwise he will never be able to overcome it, and that in the end, he really can't try to block out something that is staring him in the face.

After he hears Kanda leave the room, Allen rises slowly and painfully, but manages limps the short distance to the bathroom, a bit surprised by just how sore his backside really is. Once he enters the bathroom, he starts to mechanically go through the motions of getting ready for the day, not really noticing anything around him or what he is really doing. It isn't until he finally steps under the steaming water that everything from this morning seems to fade away and everything from last night really hits him like a ton of bricks.

He has a mate.

He, Allen, has a mate.

And not only that, he already has one child, but this means that now he might eventually have others, and those kittens will all be Kanda's kittens as well.

It might be a small, trivial fact to others, but the thought of eventually being able to carry and raise Kanda's kittens is a far more appealing idea than Allen would ever let on. After all, he wanted to be able to see small versions of Kanda running around all over with the older neko.

A small, content smile quirks at the corner of his mouth. Yes, more kittens would be nice. Not now, not when there is so much going on, and far too dangerous for him to even consider bringing new, innocent lives into the picture, but hopefully someday. Someday when he and Kanda, and everyone else can finally not have to worry about the Millennium Earl, the fear of being kidnapped again, or what might happen if they were to ever be discovered by people other than their friends.

He shakes his head in frustration with himself, making water droplets splatter against the walls of the shower. No, he's not going to let his thoughts go down that dark path. For now his immediate concerns should only be around finishing up with this shower so that he can go make sure that Rose is fed before they leave to go find Komui and Bak and give them the bad news.

As the fear of what this meeting might mean begins to rise once again, Allen leans into the wall of the shower, letting the water softly pound on only part of his body now. He closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths before moving away from the wall, and after he closes his eyes, he turns his face towards the showerhead, letting the soothing rhythmic drumming of the water against his face wash away his worries and pound away his fears.

Within a few minutes all Allen can coherently think about is how soothingly warm and comforting the water is. With great reluctance he finally turns off the water and quickly grabs a thick fluffy towel to dry himself with, hoping the whole time that at least some of the heat gained by the shower will remain to continue easing his sore behind. He looks around the bathroom and spots a pile of clothes that Kanda left, apparently realizing that Allen forgot to bring any in with him before heading into the shower.

He takes his time, finding that bending to put on his pants is literally more of a pain than normal. He especially has a harder time today with easing his now even fluffier than normal tail through the small tail hole in the back, since even the base of his tail is feeling some of the pain from the previous nights' activities.

Eventually, he is able to feel that he is presentable enough for the day with his gray long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans that will more than likely have to be changed by the time that Rose has finished eating, and consequently burping at least part of her meal on him afterwards. He carefully makes his way out of the bathroom and down the hall to find Rose, all the while taking extra care not to move too quickly and make his limp even more apparent.

When he enters Rose's room he is a little surprised that she is still sleeping, but at the same time, a bit relieved that that means that she most likely slept through everything that happened earlier. He did not want to find out that he inadvertently scared her for life at such a young age. He smiled a bit as he gently runs his hand through her dark curly locks of hair before gently picking her up.

He holds her for a moment, hoping that she will wake up more gently this way, but she still continues to sleep on. Allen gives a small sigh of contentment at this and wanders into the kitchen with Rose still sleeping soundly in his arms, figuring that when she hears the normal morning kitchen sounds that she will wake up demanding her own breakfast as well.

By the time he manages to ease himself into the kitchen area, Kanda is already busy trying to make breakfast for all of them, dressed in a pair of black jeans and loose navy blue top, he appears to have not really bothered too much today with appearance, but more with functionality. A bottle of milk stands ready on the counter for Rose, the toaster is busy browning some bread, and the skillet appears to be occupied by some eggs that are currently beings scrambled as they sizzle.

Kanda looks up from his work as he can feel a set of hungry eyes staring at the pan in front of him. He gives a bit of a mischievous grin as he piles the eggs on to two plates and pulls the toast from the toaster and distributes that as well. He brings them over to the table and motions for his mate to sit before heading back to the kitchen area to grab the bottle for Rose.

When he gets back to the table, Allen is already seated and trying to gently rub Rose awake so that he can eat after she is done eating. When she still refuses to wake up, Allen releases a small sigh as he stares wistfully at the plate of cooling food, but smiles at Kanda and whispers a quick "Thank you" before turning his attention back to a still sleeping Rose.

After a few minutes of this, it quickly becomes apparent that not even the temptation of food is going to bring Rose to alertness just yet, so Allen resigns himself to just having to wait a while longer before he can eat the food that Kanda has made for him.

As of yet Kanda has yet to even touch the food on his plate, having decided to wait so that he and Allen could eat together after Rose was done, but seeing how she hasn't awakened yet, Kanda is starting to see just how hungry his small mate really is. He starts cutting into his own plate of food and carefully balances some egg and toast with a fork before carefully and slowly bringing it over to Allen's mouth.

When Allen sees what Kanda is doing he gives him a slightly confused look, but one look at Kanda's grin lets Allen feel more at ease as he allows his mate to feed him while he still focuses mainly on trying to wake up Rose. However, it doesn't take too long before the entire plate of food has been devoured and Allen is giving Kanda a guilty smile while a piece of egg still managing to rest on his cheek.

Before Allen really realizes what is happening, Kanda leans over and delicately licks the egg off of Allen's face, making the younger neko blush deeply as emotions from last night still reside near the surface. Kanda gives another grin before slipping Rose out of Allen's arms and into his own as he tries to wake her up himself, all while looking at Allen expectantly.

Allen laughs for a moment before sticking out his tongue at his amused mate, and begins repeating Kanda's previous actions of trying to balance food on a fork before feeding it to his older mate. Apparently he doesn't have as good of balance because more of the food ended up on the table than Kanda ever dropped for him, but Allen can tell that Kanda is enjoying it the entire time as he lets his gaze flicker up and smolder directly at Allen, who continually turns darker and darker shades of red under that gaze.

Eventually, despite their best efforts, the plates are cleared of food and the table is currently sporting several crumbs of varying size and contents as the two nekos are staring across at each other in contentment. As Allen begins to rise to start cleaning up the dishes, Kanda makes a motion for him to sit back down. Allen does so with a puzzled look on his face. Kanda stands and hands Rose back to Allen, before picking up their plates and heading to the sink.

A warm fuzzing feeling surrounds Allen's heart at this simple gesture. To know that he is so lucky to have such a caring mate while so many others will never be this lucky. But at the same time, his previous fears are nagging at his mind again, reminding him that this could all disappear at any moment.

He holds Rose just a bit closer at this thought, but his thoughts are sidetracked when he notices something a bit off. He looks over to make sure that Kanda is still busy cleaning up, and when he is sure that he won't be noticed, he leans his head over so that is forehead is touching Rose's forehead. He jerks his head back as the heat emanating from his small child is far to great to be anywhere near normal, even for her.

"Kanda!" Said neko hurries over to the table at the sound of his lovers frantic voice. "Something's wrong. Rose is too hot, even for her and she's still not waking up!"

Kanda frowns and repeats Allen's previous action of placing his forehead against that of Rose. His frown deepens as the unnatural heat assaults his skin. He looks up and at Allen, concern obvious in his slight frown. "Let's head over to see Koumi, I think this takes greater importance than anything else right now." Allen nods deeply in agreement before easing himself out of the chair and back down the hall to retrieve Rose's carrying sling.

….

Under an hour later, both nekos are left sitting out in a hallway as Komui is busy giving Rose an extensive checkup just on the other side of the door. Kanda is holding Allen close on the floor opposite the door as the younger neko becomes increasingly and unconsciously clingy as his stress levels increase. But Kanda isn't too bothered by this, after all, Rose is Allen's one surviving daughter, and in a strange way, his own daughter as well. Sure she may not be his flesh and blood, but he has helped raise her more than her biological father will ever know. And it is because of this that he feels that he is indeed her father, and she will always be his daughter, even if only in his mind.

Another hour of anxious waiting and Kanda can feel Allen begin to sag as lack of sleep threatens to overwhelm him. Kanda gently picks up his younger mate and positions himself so that he is sitting in Kanda's lap and able to lean back so that his head is under Kanda's chin. However, they are only in this position for a short time before the door opens and Komui emerges.

Allen's eyes light with hope at the emergence of Koumi, but they quickly dim and become wary as the look of the man before him is not one of a person bringing good news. Komui takes a moment to compose himself and push up his glasses before speaking. "It looks like Rose has contracted some type of virus. Now, we're not sure just what it is yet, but I think that it would be best if she stayed here until we can figure out exactly what is causing her symptoms."

Allen nods his head slowly. "Can we still see her?"

Komui gravely shakes his head. "I don't think that that would be wise. As it is, the two of you have probably already been exposed to whatever she has, so the both of you will need to stay here overnight as well, just to make sure that she hasn't passed anything on to you two. And just incase she is infected with something and you aren't, I'll have you separated for now, but I'll make sure that we put you two in a room next to hers so that incase anything were to change, you'll be able to know right away."

He gives the two a sympathetic look. "I'm sure that it's nothing other than a simple virus that will be gone by the end of the week, but we have to take precautions just in case." After observing a nod from both of the nekos before him, Komui continues. "Now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to the room that you'll be staying in for the night." And with that he turns down the hall looking over his shoulder to make sure that the two nekos are following behind.

….

Allen sighed, already feeling like he has spent more than his fair share of his time in hospitals these last few months, but at the same time he can understand why Komui is having them do this. And even though he understands, the fact that there is something wrong with his child makes him want to hold her, or at least be near her even more.

Even Kanda is starting to become visibly annoyed as time passes, just as desperate as Allen for some solid answers. He stands next to the door, his gaze drifting between it and Allen, neither one ever completely out of his sight, but never fully in it at the same time.

For hours they stay in that room, moving only when a nurse drops by with some food, but only food and no news of Rose. To say that the lack of news had no effect would be very incorrect.

After their short meal, Kanda pulls Allen onto the bed with him and just sits there, holding the younger neko and whispering empty encouragements in his ears. Eventually worrying too much wears Allen out to the point where he falls asleep, still leaning against his older mate.

Kanda tries to force himself to stay awake so that when they do receive word of what his happening to Rose, he will be able to be ready for anything. But as the hours drag on, he too begins his own war with sleep, and in the end, he falls asleep just as he is, with his arms wrapped around Allen, and his face towards the door.

….

The sound of the door being quietly opened alerts Allen back into consciousness. He can feel Kanda shift underneath him, so he knows that he too knows that something is happening. He opens his eyes and looks towards the door.

A dark figure is standing there. Their identity kept a mystery except for the outline of a beret on the figure's head.

Allen straightens up, and reaches for a lamp near the bed so that he might better be able to see Komui's expressions as he tells them what is going on with Rose. He feels Kanda straighten up behind him, an arm holds Allen even closer, as if to try to protect him from any bad news that Komui might bring.

As he steps into the room, Allen can tell that something has happened. Komui looks exhausted and grim. Part of that might have been that it is already in the early hours of the morning and it seems like Komui probably did not get any sleep as of yet, and that is what Allen his hoping for.

However, these hopes are dashed when Komui begins to speak.

"Allen, Kanda, there's something you need to know."


	20. Bite Marks

Chapter 19

A feeling of absolute dread fills Allen. Just by the way that Komui is holding himself suggest that he comes with bad news. If Rose still has not woken up and yet Komui still looks so defeated, there must be something else. Something even more terrible than he thinks that Allen will want to or should know about.

Alarm bells ring in his mind, warning him that something is seriously wrong. He pulls back the covers, and pulls himself out of Kanda's hold. He takes careful, measured steps towards Komui. Fear and dread rising to even higher levels, as his old friend remains silent and stoic.

He stops before the older human and looks him directly in the eye. "Let me see her. Please." There is a moment of hesitance, but when Komui exchanges a quick glance back at Kanda, he sighs before motioning for Kanda to rise as well so that both nekos can find out the sad truth together.

Kanda makes his way silently over to Allen. He can sense the anxiety rolling off of his mate, so he reaches out and takes the smaller hand in his own, giving it a small squeeze of reassurance. Allen looks to him for a second, gratitude evident in his quivering silver eyes.

The two silently follow Komui out of the room and swiftly into the one next door. The one where Rose has been mysteriously sick in for the last few hours.

Inside the room, they find it filled with various machines and cords, all attached to a small incubation chamber looking machine. Allen rushes to it, his hand leaving Kanda's in his haste. Through the clear plastic covering, Allen can see Rose still and silent as the last time he saw her, but now there various cords, and monitors attached to her, making things seem far worse than what he expected.

Tears begin to well in his eyes, as he feels Kanda come up behind him, seeing for himself the damage that has been done. He lets his gaze linger on his daughter for a moment before turning back to Komui.

With tears now silently streaming down his face, and his desperation evident, he manages to whisper, "What's wrong with her? What did I do wrong?"

Sadness washes over Komui's features. "There's nothing you did wrong, in fact the fact that you and Kanda have been taking such good care of her is probably the only reason that she's been able to live this long."

"What do you mean?"

Komui sighs and hangs his head a bit, but he never lets his gaze leave the two nekos before him. "Allen, it seems that while you were at the Black Ark, they implanted some type of tracking device into Rose while you were in earlier stages of your pregnancy. I'm guessing that this was done in hopes that her body would develop around it without it being implanted to forcefully. However, it seems that whatever that tracker is made of is eroding into Rose's bloodstream. In effect, the metals used for that device are now poisoning her.

"Normally I would suggest a series of blood transfusions to help flush out the extra metals, but Rose has a blood type and structure unlike any I've ever seen or heard of before. Because of her mixed genetics, there are no possible donors that I know of without one part of her genetics rejecting the blood."

A sharp voice cuts in, "What exactly are you saying? Is there something we can do, or is there no hope."

Komui bows his head. "I'm sorry that there's nothing more we can do. For now all we can do is keep her comfortable and try to make her passing as peaceful as we can." He walks over to the incubator like machine and starts turning off monitors before leaving Kanda and Allen alone with Rose. "I wish there was something more that I could do for her. I'll give you some time alone now."

There is silence after he leaves. With the monitors switched off, and no other sounds drifting through the room, it almost seems like Death is already in the room. Allen manages to break the silence ever so slightly by padding softly over to where Rose lies. He carefully holds her close as he cries softly, his tears falling on to the blanket she is wrapped in.

Kanda makes his way over to Allen and holds him close. No words are spoken, but many more tears are shed.

For Allen, his tears flow from all of his regret for this happening to his daughter, for what he sees as his failure to care for her and protect her like he should.

For Kanda, the tears come from his grief that Rose will soon pass, but mostly they fall for his Moyashi, his new mate who seems to only know pain in this world, and with this adding to his burden, his tears fall for everything that his mate must endure, knowing that an entire litter has died with nothing they could do to change that fact.

The silence reigns for a stretch of time before it is broken. "Kanda, she . . . I . . . I want to take her there. Just one . . . one more time. It is . . . was her favorite place."

Without any questions, Kanda knows exactly where it is that Allen wants to go with Rose. He leans down to pick up Allen bridal style so that Kanda would be able to carry the two of them, at least once more. He leaves the room without a backwards glance, his hatred for that place growing with every step.

….

They have been in the forest area for more than an hour now. Allen found a spot protected at the base of the large redwood and has remained there for the last hour, holding Rose close with Kanda behind him, holding them both. Somehow, during this time, Allen's tears finally ceased and he was lulled into sleep with Rose still in his arms.

Kanda looks down at the two in his arms and sighs, knowing what he must do to protect those most dear to him. He carefully shifts Allen so that he is the one leaning against the tree. And as he slowly stands, he looks into the great tree, knowing that they have not been the only ones grieving here.

"Watch over them, just for a little while. There's something I must do now, before it's too late."

Silence is the only reply he receives, and silence is all he needs before casting one last look at his mate as he heads out of the forest area in search of one particular neko.

Down the halls he strides, stopping for no one, letting nothing distract him from his goal.

Once he reaches his destination, only then does he hesitate, but only for a moment before he gives the door in front of him two swift, but loud knocks. The door opens in just a few seconds revealing a rather disheveled neko.

Surprise and a restrained curiosity fill his question. "What are you doing here?"

Kanda's ears go back against his head as his tail gives an aggravated swish. "I'm here not because I want to be, but there's something I need you to do."

Eyes narrow to slits. "You need me to do something? And why should I? You've made your intentions clear to me, so why come to me now?"

"It's not about me, if it was I wouldn't be here! This is about the Moyashi."

"And what could he possibly need from me that he couldn't get from you?"

"Dammit Alma! Rose is dying because of them, and now Allen will have to pay the price. Is that what you want?"

Alma visibly deflates. "What do you mean that Rose is dying? She was just fine two days ago, what happened? What changed?"

Kanda starts to calm down. "Komui said something about an eroding tracker that we didn't know was in her. Somehow the metal is getting in her bloodstream and poisoning her."

Alma's eyebrows crease in confusion. "But couldn't Komui just give her a blood transfusion? Wouldn't that help to flush out the excess metal until her own blood is restored?"

Kanda shakes his head. "Because of her being a mixed species there is no blood for her to take that would be compatible. If the metal didn't killer, then that would." His eyes soften as he looks Alma in the eye. "This is why I need you to do something, not for me, but for Allen."

Alma slowly nods. "You know that I would do anything for either of you. You two may not be the lovers I had hoped for, but beyond that, both of you are my friends, and I don't want that to change."

Kanda nods as well. "Friends I can deal with. So I ask you again, as a friend. Will you help me?"

"How about we go back to your mate and on the way there you can explain what is going on. Agreed?"

A nod is all that he receives as Kanda starts back through the halls and to his mate.

As Alma begins to follow, Kanda begins to explain more into the situation. "Last night Allen and I became mates." A look of surprise and almost jealousy passes through Alma's eyes, but he restrains it. "Afterwards, he found the earing that Neah was supposed to have had him hide somewhere back at the Black Ark, but apparently he never got that part of the message, so its been here this whole time."

Alma stops. "Wait. What do you mean its been here this whole time?"

Kanda sighs in frustration. "I mean exactly that. The thing was never deactivated so they know where we are, and I'll bet anything that they aren't going to remain silent for too much longer. We have someone they want, and they'll do anything to get him, and probably us as well, back. I'm not going to stand back and do nothing." He stops for a moment and closes his eyes in defeat of the inevitable. That's why I asked for your help."

Alma come up to him, and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it. Don't blame yourself for this, there is no way that you could have known."

"Saying that doesn't make any difference." Another sigh. "But this is about Moyashi. Not me." He continues down the hall. "I want you to perform the final act of the mating ritual on Allen with me."

Alma stops again, but this time it is pure shock and a bit of fear that holds him. "Do you know what you ask of me? This is too much for you to ask! The bite mark is a symbol of being mates, and yet you would have me give it to someone who is not my mate? How can you ask this of me?"

Kanda grabs Alma's shoulders and forces the older neko to look him in the eye. "I know the significance of what I ask, and that is why I ask it of you, and you alone. I know of your feelings for him, as well as for myself, but that is exactly why I ask it of you." He tightens his hold as Alma tries to look away.

"When those of the Black Ark and of the Noah come, I want to give him the best chance for survival as I can. But in order to do that I need you to survive as well. When they come, they will do everything they can to avoid hurting Moyashi physically, but they will not hesitate to hurt anyone around him. When they come, I need you to stay as close to him as you can, to try and get him away if you can. I will come as soon as I can, and the three of us will head out together, giving us a better chance of survival. But if we all end up getting caught, the bite marks might save the three of us.

"I don't doubt that they'll send Moyashi off to the Breeding Program as soon as they can, but when they see the bite marks, they won't be able to do anything or try to mate him to anyone else because only mates give those marks. It probably won't take them long to figure out that those marks belong to you and I, and when that happens they'll still have to figure out which of us truly is his mate. That will give us more time, and hopefully that will be enough for us to escape and be long gone before they ever figure it out."

Alma sighs before finally facing Kanda. "I'll do it. It weighs heavily on my heart to do this, but I will. If it can help in the future, for all of us that is. I'll do what I can." His look turns fiercer. "And when they come, I will do everything I can do make sure that all of us make it out of here alive, and free."

Kanda smiles, his fangs flashing slightly. "That's what I wanted to hear."

The two of them continue in silence until they reach the forest area. Once they arrive, Kanda wastes no time in rushing over to where Allen lies, still in the same position as when he left less than an hour before. He quickly notes that Allen is still sleeping before turning his attention to Rose. She is even paler than before and her breathing seems to be shallower, and more erratic. It is clear that her time is almost up.

He carefully shifts Allen so that Alma can kneel on one side of him while Kanda is on the other. The two share a quick look before Kanda carefully leans Allen's head forward so that the other nekos can take their positions. Kanda gives Alma one final look before biting down on Allen's right ear, feeling the cold earing in his mouth, while Alma does the same to Allen's left. The two let their teeth stay lodged in the ears for a moment before withdrawing. The only indication that Allen is aware of something happening to him is a soft grunt of pain, but continues to sleep.

They both take a second to see that there is some blood that is quickly drying along the bite marks, indicating that the marks will stay, and that their job is fulfilled.

Kanda carefully repositions Allen against the tree, silently thanking any and all higher powers that his Moyashi didn't wake up during that. However, he is a bit surprised when Alma suddenly leans forward and bites Kanda's left ear.

"That way you'll have a better chance if you get caught. Allen will be fine, but you need to worry about yourself too." He stops for a moment, backing away from a still stunned Kanda. "Make sure that he bites your other ear soon. If what you say is true, they'll be on our doorstep before long, and time is something we can't afford to lose."

Suddenly, short, harsh pants start up. Instantly drawing their attention back to Allen and Rose. "I'll leave you now. Take care of him Yuu. He needs it more than he'll ever admit."

Alma rushes out the door, shouting for Komui, someone, anyone, to come help.

Kanda rushes back to his mate and daughter. Holding them close, and gently shaking his Moyashi to try and wake him. After a few seconds of shaking, Allen is fully alert, and panicking as the child in his arms begins to hyperventilate, and there is nothing he can do to stop it or make it better.

Within minutes the forest area is swarmed by people from the medical area, trying to get closer, but by then it is too late. All they find is a pair of neko mates holding each other and crying over the lifeless form of a halfling.

….

A week later finds Allen and Kanda back in the forest area, this time they are in front of the graves of Allen's first litter, now all of them as a new small grave is hidden with the others under the same tree root. Though the official funeral for Rose was more than four days ago, the grief is still fresh for everyone, but especially for Allen.

Ever since the day of his daughter's death, Allen has reverted back into the broken individual he was before he was rescued by the White Ark. He rarely talks, he's not eating, and he doesn't want anyone touching him. It even took a while to convince him to let Kanda hold him, and comfort him again.

Though most people are worrying about Allen, Kanda knows that this will pass along with the freshness of his grief. Once Allen is able to accept what happened, he will be able to move on, but for now he needs to be allowed to grieve. So for now, he'll do what he can to support his Moyashi, and when the time comes and Allen starts letting more people back in, then he'll have their support too.

As they sit there, the rain starts up and before long both are completely soaked through. Kanda knows that if he left to go dry off, Allen would just stay there, unmoving. So he walks over to his mate and carefully picks him up and carries him back to their room.

By the time that they arrive back at the room, both are thoroughly chilled, so Kanda sets Allen in the bedroom while he starts running water for a shower for both of them to heat up with. As he heats up the water, he can feel his own temperature start to rise, taking that as a good sign, he heads back to the bedroom to strip both himself and his mate so that they can go warm up.

A few minutes and much convincing later and both nekos are in the shower, going through the routine of cleaning themselves and warming up. However, Kanda is startled when he suddenly feels his head being pulled down by Allen's arms. He feels the hot breath of his mate on his neck for only a second before he feels a sharp pain in his right ear.

He jerks away from Allen, only to look back and see those silver eyes filled with pain, fear, and a deep need. A need for Kanda, for someone to be close too.

Kanda hesitates for a moment, knowing exactly what it is that the Moyashi wants, but at the same time knowing that this is mostly likely some type of coping mechanism instead of just pure love and need. But at the same time he wants to help his Moyashi in anyway he can.

Soon mouths crash together under the heated water and Allen is pushed back into the shower wall as he wraps his legs around Kanda, trying to bring him closer. It takes little time before Kanda is pounding into Allen, and finally spilling his seed inside of the younger neko as both reach their ends together.

It lands on Kanda to finish cleaning them both up before heading back into the bedroom. As he works on drying his Moyashi off, he notices that Allen is feeling a bit feverish. Feeling guilty for what he just did to his mate while he was in such a state, he takes extra care to make sure that Allen is dressed warmly before dressing himself.

After checking to see how Allen's fever is doing, Kanda climbs into bed and swiftly pulls his now sleeping mate to him, hoping that maybe his own body heat will help burn off Allen's fever.

….

The Millennium Earl looks out of his office window to the great city beyond. Seeing all of the lights and life below him never fails to bring a smile to his face. A door opens behind him and two figures sporting the usual grayish skin and yellow eyes of the Noah family.

"Ah, why if it isn't Jasdero and Devitto. I was hoping that the two of you would be able to make it tonight. I have some important business to discuss with you. And if you are interested, a job." The mention of a job obviously catches the attention of the twins. "Now, if you'll just take a seat at my desk we can begin."

As the two parties sit across from one another, the Earl passes a folder to each of the twins, both containing the same information. "This is a neko that was in my possession a few months ago, but went missing when the White Order launched an attack on us about five months ago. While a few other nekos went missing at that time, this is the only one I've been able to keep tabs on, and now it is time for him to finally come home."

The twins look at each other for a moment. "Why should we care about some filthy neko? Can't you just find another one?"

The Earl's smile widens. "You see, that's the thing. This neko is a bit different. See how his ears are still closed and floppy? That shows that he's a Bearer, a male neko that can become pregnant. And as far as we know, there are only a total of four, including him, in existence." Seeing the puzzled looks on the twin's faces he continues. "That makes him rather valuable, and I already have a set up with the Breeding Program that will start as soon as he is returned. That's why you two are here. I need you to go and collect him for me."

"But why send us? Why not Tyki? Isn't he usually the best one for stuff like this?"

"While that's true, I think that it would be best for Tyki to sit this one out. Besides, I'm sure that the two of you should be able to handle this. So what do you say? Are you interested in becoming part of this business venture?"

The twins look at each other for a moment before responding. "It will be simple. After all, nothing is impossible for Jasdevi!"


	21. Alarms and Jasdevi

Chapter 20

When Kanda finally wakes up from his much needed sleep, he dreads actually having to get out of bed and face reality. It means that things will go back to being the way that they have been, that they really are. The Noah will still be after him and his mate, his daughter and her siblings will still be dead, and his mate will still be lost in grief over her death and the residual grief of the others' deaths.

This is something that Kanda wishes for no one to have to wake up to, but for him, it is all too real.

He sighs for a moment, watching his as his breath ruffles his mate's hair, and feeling his mate's back lean further into his chest. For a moment, it seems almost peaceful, but Kanda can feel that his mate's muscles are tense and strained with stress despite him still being asleep.

Kanda reaches a hand over and runs it though the silky mess of his Moyashi's hair. Smoothing it out, letting his fingers trail across his soft, delicate ears, and caressing the bite mark near the tip, his bite mark.

Guilt, and shame fill him for a moment when he thinks back to what he requested of Alma, but despite that, he does not regret it. He will do anything he can to make sure that Allen stays safe, anything at all. After all, they are mates, and that means that they are supposed to look out for each other, no matter what the cost.

He slides his hand through the smooth white hair once more before carefully pulling away from his still overly warm mate, and silently gathers up a set of clothes for the day before leaving the room. He dresses quickly and after pulling his hair back in a ponytail, Kanda picks up a small metallic piece from the counter, and glares at it for a moment.

"For something so small, you have caused us too much trouble. It may not do much good now, but I will make sure that you never hurt my mate ever again."

He closes his fist tightly over the small device before taking one last peak to see if his mate is still sleeping. Seeing the small form of his mate stops him for a moment, forcing him to choose between his head and his heart in that moment. While a part of him wants to stay with his mate, he knows that he needs to make sure that they are rid of that device once and for all. So against his better judgment, he walks over to plant a small kiss on his Moyashi's forehead before leaving to find the one person who should be informed of their situation first.

He strides quickly and purposefully through the fairly deserted hallways. Though not many people are out and about this early in the morning, Kanda knows that this is the best time to get anything done without being distracted or cornered by anyone, especially a certain baka usagi.

Soon the halls gave way to vines, leaves, and grass as he made his way into the forest area. With no searching he made his way to the great redwood and circled its base to the darkest side before knocking loudly on the trunk.

He waits a few seconds with no response before raising his fist to knock again.

"You know, just because you knock, it doesn't mean that he's going to come out."

Kanda looks up into the branches above him, only to catch a glimpse of an orange tail flickering out of sight. "If he's not here, than where is he? I must speak with him quickly."

A sigh is heard rustling through the branches. "He's off with Bookman in the main meeting room. He said something about the Noah making a move that's out of character."

Kanda's eyebrows knit together with this piece of information. With each progressing thought, his tail begins to swish violently behind him. Suddenly he turns on his heal and runs out of the room, hoping that he won't be too late to find Bak.

The halls pass in a blur as Kanda races towards one of the topmost levels of the White Ark, hoping to find the others on their way back, but only to end his journey at the meeting room. When he opens the seemingly innocent black door, he is met with the sounds of Bookman and Bak arguing.

"I tell you, something is wrong here. They are pulling together a small force, they must be preparing for something."

"As much as I appreciate your opinion, Bookman. I highly doubt that it is anything to concern ourselves with at this time. This has happened before and we never saw they come anywhere close to this place. What makes you think that this time is any different than the rest?"

"Che." The sound of Kanda's annoyance draws the attention of the other two in the room. The turn to look at him with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty. "If they're gathering their forces, it's probably because of this." He holds out the hand holding the tracker. "Apparently Neah never got around to deactivating it, so this thing has been sending them our location ever since the rescue mission."

Bak's ears go back as he reaches for the small device. "Are you sure? But if that were true, then why would they wait until now to do anything? Wouldn't they have launched some sort of counterattack as soon as they realized that the signal wasn't moving?"

Bookman takes the device from Bak and begins to examine it closer. Kanda responds with a tight and annoyed voice. "They probably assumed that that thing is still in Moyashi's ear. They want him back, I'm sure of that, and this little thing is what is leading them straight to him. They knew that he was carrying a litter, and that it was not going to be an easy birth, so they probably wanted to wait until it was over with before they came to get him. They knew that we wouldn't do anything to harm him, so they probably assumed that we would take care of him through all of that too." He pauses for a second before lowering his voice. "And that we did, and now they have come to take him back. We need to get that thing and Moyashi out of here and away from each other as soon as possible, and probably ever other neko that's here too for a while, just to be safe."

"Kanda, do you know what you are suggesting? That we uproot people and have them leave just because of your assumption? Do you know just how many of us there are? And what about some of the families that are here? You want them to move as well, even though some of them have young children? Or even mates such as Miranda and Krory, who are in the middle of carrying their first litters? And just what are we supposed to tell them? That –"

"He's quite right Bak. This device is still active and his assumptions fit with what the Noah have done in the past. It will be safer if we evacuate everyone as soon as we can, even if this just proves to be a false alarm, then no harm will have come to any of us, instead of us ignoring this and possibly having to suffer severe consequences as a result." Bookman places the tracking device in one of his many pockets. "The sooner we get everyone out of here and on the move, the better." He walks over to the door and places his hand on the handle. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go find my idiot apprentice so that we can help get everyone informed of the situation and out of the White Ark as soon as possible."

With that, Bookman exits the room, closing the door softly behind him, and leaving the two nekos behind. Bak lets out a weary sigh before slumping down in a nearby chair. "Is this really what it has come down to? That even the one place we always thought would be safe will never truly be that safe again?"

Kanda sighs before taking a seat next to Bak. "This isn't something that any of us could have expected, nor wanted to happen, now or at any other time. But let's face it; they were bound to find out about this place sooner or later. No matter what we did, they were going to find this place eventually. After all, nothing this good can remain hidden for long can it? Not when it's practically right under their nose."

"I guess you're right. But I guess that I never expected for it to happen now, or even years from now. I had hoped that there could have at least been some improvements out there for our kind before it came to this. Maybe even some little Baks running around." He gives a small smile at that thought.

Kanda gives a small laugh. "Great, just what the world needs. Mini versions of you. Komui will be terrorized for ages."

Bak joins in his laughing. "You think so? I sure hope that that they give that sister complex some harassment. It'll prove that they really are mine. After all, Fou does have a tendency to -"

Suddenly, a rather loud and high-pitched alarm sounds throughout the White Ark. The sound causes Bak and Kanda's ears to go back with the harshness, but it also brings them back onto their feet. They give each other a knowing look before bolting out the door and though the halls for the alarms mean only one thing.

The Noah have arrived.

….

Allen woke up alone in his and Kanda's bedroom. Though his heart still feels heavy, he physically, and mentally feels lighter than before. He smiles a bit at that realization. Maybe today won't be as bad as the others have been recently.

He turns so that he is facing Kanda's side of the bed, running a hand over the slightly warm sheets for a moment. Then he moves to sit up, but winces a bit when he realizes that his backside is rather sore. Confused for a moment, he thinks back to what may have caused this, and turns bright red when he remembers the heat of Kanda and the shower surrounding him and in him the night before.

With this realization, he takes extra care in easing himself from the bed, and making his way about the room, gathering clothes for the day. It takes a bit longer than normal for him to dress himself, but he figures that he can take as long as he wants since Kanda isn't there to distract him.

When he finishes getting dressed, he goes to head out of the master bedroom and grab a bite to eat while he waits for Kanda, but he stops when he goes to pass the second bedroom. The door to the bedroom is open a crack, reveling the blanketless, and empty crib inside.

He reaches out a hand to touch the doorknob, but something stops him. The knowledge that there is no one waiting for him on the other side of the door makes him drop his hand back to his side, and his heart ache even stronger.

Suddenly, he is overwhelmed by the desire to not be alone any longer. So he runs out of the apartment, heading for the dinning hall. Hoping to find someone there, someone who will help to keep him from falling apart again.

As he runs though the halls, tears flood his eyes, blinding him from everything and everyone around him. Suddenly, a hand grabs his arm and spins him around to face its owner, but the tears are coming too fast to see who it is.

"Allen. Hey Allen? What's wrong? Are you ok?" Lavi gently holds the sides of Allen's head so that he can see his friend better. When he sees the tears and ache behind them he releases Allen's head and pulls him into a soothing hug. As the young neko in his arms begins to sob, Lavi holds him closer, gently running his hand through Allen's hair, hoping that the simple gesture will help him to calm down some.

He knows that there is nothing more that he can do for his friend at that moment than for him to simply be there. To give Allen something solid and real to hold onto while his heart lets its pain be known. He gently guides Allen closer to one of the walls so that they are no longer standing in the middle of the hallway, and hopefully for a small bit of privacy.

He holds Allen for what seems like only mere seconds before the alarm begins to sound. Knowing that the old Panda had left earlier for a meeting with Bak Chan because of something like this, he acts immediately.

Pulling Allen so that he is facing him, Lavi looks him in the eye. "Allen, we need to leave. The Noah are here looking for you, and we need to get you out of here now. Kanda knew that this might happen so we have a meeting place set up to meet up with him again. Ok?" Seeing a look of fear flash across Allen's face with his words, he knows that the young neko understands all too well what is happening. "Now, I'm going to take you to where you are going to meet with Kanda, from there the two of you are going to go somewhere else until it's safe to come back. But for now I need you to keep up with me. Think you can do that?"

Allen slowly nods his head as the situation fully begins to sink in. "Ok," Lavi grabs hold of Allen's wrist, "Let's go." The two race off through the halls, with Lavi leading the way to their escape.

However, they don't get very far before they are stopped by a figure with familiar gray toned skin and dark eyes. Fear roots Allen to the floor as the figure in front of them grins like a predator that has cornered its prey.

Lavi quickly yanks Allen away from the Noah and turns back the way they came; only to stop again as that way is now blocked by another Noah. Leaving them effectively stuck between the two with nowhere else to run.

The dark haired Noah before them now grins the same grin as the one behind them. "Seems the Earl was right about this one. He does look a bit different than the others." He takes a step closer to Allen and Lavi. "But I don't remember the Earl mentioning anything about wanting a red haired human. Did he Jasdero?"

A cackle comes from the blond Noah behind them. "I don't remember him saying that." Another cackle. "That must mean that he's expendable."

This time Devitto laughs. "More like useless to us. But who cares. We found what we were sent to get so let's grab it and go."

"You think it'll be that easy?" Lavi glares between the twins. "The way I see it, there are two of you and two of us. Fairly even odds if I do say so myself."

The twins just laugh. "Who ever said anything about fighting you? The Earl wants it back in one piece and as unharmed as possible, and that's what he's going to get."

While Jasdero was busy distracting Lavi with his statements, Devitto has sent a small canister rolling towards Lavi and Allen. Smoke erupts from the canister, surrounding Lavi and Allen, and causing them to cough as it is inhaled.

The twins stand back away from the smoke so that they aren't affected by it and wait for it to dissipate. And after a minute the smoke disappears revealing the unconscious forms of Lavi and Allen.

The twins laugh and grin at their success before striding up to the unconscious pair and dragging Allen away from Lavi. They bind his wrists and feet incase the effects smoke runs out too quickly, and then have a brief argument on who has to carry Allen. In the end Devitto is left with the job and the two of them leave Lavi behind and head back through the halls of the White Ark with Allen.

….

After a few floors, Kanda and Bak part ways and each go to their own destinations. Fearing that his mate won't know what is going on or where to meet him, Kanda heads back towards the apartment, hoping that either he is still there, or that someone came to help him find the right escape route.

As he gets closer to his destination the crowds of people running in their own direction become thinner and fewer between. And it is not too long before he is alone running through the halls.

When he is just a few halls down from the apartment he finds Lavi collapsed on the floor. He runs up to his annoying friend to see if he is alright, he very surprised to find him limp and unresponsive. Kanda tries to wake his friend, but nothing works.

Suddenly, Lavi takes a sharp intake of breath before cracking open his eyes to see Kanda holding him up. "K – Kanda? What are – you doing here? Shouldn't you be looking – for him?"

Kanda looks at him sharply. "Him? Which him? What happened?"

Lavi coughs. "Noah. Two of them. Some type of gas. Here for Allen." Lavi opens his mouth to say more, but the gas regains its hold on him and he is forced back into unconsciousness.

Kanda's eyes widen and harden with his words. So the Noah really are here, and they've come for his mate. Setting Lavi gently back on the floor, Kanda races though the halls, praying that he find those who desire to take his Moyashi away from him.

As he races through the halls, he catches whispers from unfamiliar voices drifting through an upcoming hall, and turns to see if those voices will lead him to his mate.

Instead he finds Alma holding a man by his throat against the wall, demanding to know where he and Allen are. When the man refuses to answer, Alma resorts to yelling at him and applying pressure to his windpipe.

"Alma." Kanda says as evenly as he can.

Alma turns to see Kanda smile and relief flashes across his face. "There you are, I was looking for you. Now, where's Allen, or did you come back for me?"

Kanda's eyes grow dark as he shakes his head. "I found you by chance. I found Lavi earlier and he said that two Noah have him. I was looking for them when I found you instead."

Alma's smile disappears. "Well in that case, why don't you help me finish up here and we can find him together?"

Kanda gives him no response, except for pulling Mugen out of its sheath, after all, he always carries it with him when he leaves the apartment, and now is the perfect time for it to be put to good use.

As He approaches the man that is still being held by Alma, Kanda stares the man down. Rage, desperation, and overall annoyance boring into the unsuspecting man. Kanda raises Mugen to the man's throat, just above Alma's hand and asks in a quite but commanding and powerful voice, "Where is Allen Walker?"

The man tires to avert his gaze, but finds himself desperate to give the deadly neko before him the desired answer, in hopes that he might be spared from that intense glare. "The twins Jasdero and Devitto have him. They're supposed to bring him to the Breeding Center."

The man tries once again to tear his gaze away, but Alma grabs a fist full of his hair to hold him still. The man begins to shake under the neko's interrogation. "They'll leave the same way we got it. A door about six halls down and to the right from here."

That was all that Alma and Kanda needed to here. They let the man fall to the ground and run off in the direction indicated.

They are less than two hallways away from their destination when the twin Noah emerge from a different hallway with an unconscious Allen draped across the shoulder of the dark haired one.

The Noah turn when they hear the two nekos approach, and matching grins cross their faces. "So there were others here. And look they even spared us the work of searching for them by coming to us."

The blond twin grins even more. "I don't think that it's us they're looking for. It's probably the small one in your arms they want."

The dark haired one holds Allen even closer to himself. "Well, if that's what they want, then they'll have to take it from us first."

That is all the incentive that Alma and Kanda need before they launch themselves at the Noah. The Noah are light and nimble on their feet, quickly dodging all of Kanda and Alma's blows, but managing to make none of their own either.

Realizing that this fight will take far to long to decide a winner, the twins decide to take things into their own hands.

Devitto throws Allen between the two nekos while quickly backing away with Jasdero. And while the two nekos move to catch the smaller one, Jasdero releases his own small can of smoke towards them.

Alma hears the sound the metal hitting the ground and moves to push Kanda and Allen out of range, but does not make it in time as the gas spreads quickly and heavily over them. The two older nekos try to pull themselves and Allen out of the smoke, but the effects come too fast, and soon the three of them are lying unconscious on the ground.

This time, when the smoke clears, the grins of Jasdevi are even larger than before. "It's not quite what the Millennium Earl asked for. But considering we did do what he asked and have the white one, he'll probably be even more pleased when he sees that we brought him two more."

The twins walk over to their prizes, they make sure to bind the wrists and feet of the two new nekos and after much thought, call for backup to come and move the neko so that they can head back to the Earl.

As they watch the nekos being carried out of the White Ark, Jasdevi turn to look at each other. Pride matching their features. "Let's see Tyki do that well next time he gets sent out by the Earl."


	22. Kittens Everywhere

Chapter 21

A subtle dull pounding slowly works its way into Allen's consciousness. The throbbing is persistent and slowly grows to the point that it slowly begins to wake Allen. As it continues to grow and intensify, Allen finally becomes aware of the throbbing and reaches out to rub his head with his hands in hopes to sooth it.

As he moves his hands along his temples he finally opens his eyes, not quite sure why his surroundings feel off. But when he opens them, he finds himself in a nearly empty room. The only thing he can see is the bed he is currently sitting in, a door set in a wall to the left of the bed, and a mirror on the other side of the small room. The walls are pure white and the bedding a light cream color that add to Allen's unease.

But the most important thing that Allen realizes is that he is alone. Kanda is nowhere to be found.

Immediately panics sets in and Allen scrambles to get out of the covers. However, he underestimates the pounding in his head and ends up staggering towards the center of the room before falling over, clutching his head in pain.

A small jingling sound can be heard in the room for a moment, but Allen pays it no mind as he tries to hold back the pain as best he can. A short series of footsteps bring a stranger towards Allen, a syringe ready in their hand.

Allen's right arm is pulled away from his head, and a needle quickly injected into it. Allen jerks and tries to pull away, but whoever his holding his arm is much stronger than him and is able to maintain their hold until the contents of the syringe is fully inserted into Allen's arm.

Once the syringe is empty, the stranger quickly removes the needle and releases their hold on Allen's arm. The stranger then turns abruptly to leave the room, never giving Allen a second glance.

Allen quickly pulls his arm back to himself once it is released. A dull ache around the puncture wound calls for his attention. However, as the stranger heads back towards Allen tries to catch a glimpse of who or what it is.

What he can see from the back tells him nothing, so he tries calling out to the stranger. "Wait."

The stranger stops and turn to look at him for a second, but once Allen has a good look at the stranger before him, he quickly scoots himself as far away as he can, and eventually into the wall with the mirror.

The Akuma stares at Allen a while longer, as if questioning his behavior, before making its way out of the room, locking the door behind it.

The realization of seeing an Akuma again brings a rush of memories back to Allen. Everything he ever associated with Akuma and the Noah rushes back, the memories vying for his attention, but slowly tearing him apart as they fulfill their destructive purpose.

He slowly tires to crawl away from the wall, hoping that maybe more space will chase away the memories or at least ease his mind. Even if another Akuma were to come, Allen thinks that that would be better than the memories that are coming back to haunt him.

He manages to make it mostly towards the center of the room again before being forced to give into the memories, as they seem to come and go even faster. He lies there, holding his head close and pulling his knees to his chest trying to make himself as small as possible, as if that will encourage the memories to leave him alone.

The memories only come faster and stronger than ever, so much so that they even being a frantic pounding to match the pounding in his head.

Allen lies there for what seems like hours, praying for it to end. The memories seem to finally be fading some, but the pounding seems to becoming even louder and more persistent by the minute.

After a few more minutes of lying there, Allen finally cracks his eye open, hoping that maybe a glimpse of reality, no matter how grim it may be, will help the pounding in his head to die down a bit. With his eyes open, he begins looking around the room, hoping for find a secondary sources for the pounding, hoping that it is not all just in his head. When his eyes fall on what has been making the pounding so much stronger, he scrambles up from the floor and runs to what used to be a mirror.

He runs up and immediately the pounding stops. Tears begin to stream down Allen's face when he sees Kanda on the other side of the glass. He looks his mate over frantically, taking note of each and every scrape and bruise that were not there the last time they saw each other.

There are several small scrapes near Kanda's wrists, and a few higher up on his arms as though someone tried to grab him. There are also several bruises all over arms and a rather fierce looking black eye. But while his looks dictate that he was obviously in some sort of fight, there is still a fighting spirit unbroken in his yes.

Allen sees Kanda's mouth move rapidly, as though he is trying to tell him something, but even when he puts his ear to the glass, he cannot hear what Kanda is trying to say. Kanda begins to pound on the glass again, this time Allen can tell that he is yelling, his ears are pinned almost flat against his head and his tail is swishing angrily behind him, even though there is still no sound. Eventually, Kanda begins to calm down, and though he finally acknowledges that Allen cannot hear him, he rests his hand where Allen's is on the other side of the glass. Soon his other hand is pressed against the glass as well, and Allen readily complies and puts his hand on Kanda's, hoping that somehow this glass that separates them will just disappear.

Suddenly, Allen hears a faint clicking noise and his attention snaps to the other half of the mirror, which up until this point in time, he had not realized was still dark and reflective. From his current angle, Allen can tell that there must be another room on that side too. A room much like the ones that he and Kanda are currently in.

Allen looks at Kanda trying to signal that he is going to check something out, whether or not Kanda understood or not, Allen would never know as he moves towards the right half of the mirror that now has light coming from it. He looks inside and his heart aches for a moment when he sees just who is inside.

As Allen tries to pound on the glass to grab the attention of the neko on the other side, but Alma apparently does not notices his efforts, as he seems content to be trying to find a way to open the door that appears to be locked like all the rest. Allen increases his pounding, trying to gain Alma's attention. Hoping against hope that maybe Alma can actually talk to him, or that maybe Alma will be able to talk to Kanda.

It takes a few minutes, but eventually Alma turns his attention to the glass and looks rather shocked before he runs up to the glass, obviously trying to talk with Allen. When he notices Allen trying to talk back, but without being able to hear what he is saying, Alma's ears droop back as he looks around his and what he can see of Allen's room.

Satisfied that nothing else seems too off about the situation, Alma tries to speak to Allen once again, only much more slowly this time in hopes that Allen will be able to read his lips. After a few minutes of this and Allen giving him strange looks, Alma realizes that that strategy would not work. So after some careful pacing in front of his side of the mirror, Alma comes closer and breaths on the window and begins to write in the steam.

Allen quickly realizes what he is trying to do, and steps back a bit so that he can try to read what Alma is trying to tell him. It takes about a minute or so for Alma's message to be clear enough for Allen to read, but he quickly understands what Alma is asking. "Kanda?"

Allen points to the other side of the room and to the mirror. His motions confuse Alma, so Allen tries once again pointing to the quickly fading question of Alma's and then to the other side of his room and then knocks on the mirror. Alma gives him a less confused look, almost like a hesitant smile, but still seems to be a bit confused by what Allen is trying to tell him.

Eventually Allen is forced to do to Alma what he did to Kanda and try to motion for Alma to just wait a moment. And like with Kanda, Allen left Alma before he could respond, only this time he went back over to Kanda's side of the glass.

Kanda had obviously been waiting for him to come back, but looked rather annoyed at being left behind and out of the loop. Allen tries to point and slowly say Alma's name, much like Alma had tried with him, but unfortunately the results are the same with Kanda. Out of frustration, Allan starts to breath on the glass like he had seen Alma do, and after a few minutes was able to spell out 'Alma' and an arrow pointing to the other side of Kanda's room.

It takes Kanda a few minutes to understand what Allen wrote, and what it means, but he eventually understands. Allen sees Kanda calm down, just a little, but enough to know that he got his message.

Allen goes to try breathing on the glass again to see if Kanda is ok, but before he can begin writing again, the lights behind the glass are suddenly cut off, leaving Allen facing the mirror that is once again hiding Kanda and Alma.

Allen looks frantically back and forth between the areas where the two rooms are now hidden, hoping that maybe something will change and he'll get to see at least one of them again. Soon he begins to pound frantically on the glass, hoping to catch their attention, or even feel them pounding back in response, but again he receives nothing in return for his actions.

Eventually tears stream down his face once more with the new fear of his mate and friend being stripped away from him again. He looks back at the mirror before throwing himself into it, hoping to break it and reach at least one of them.

He only gets a few attempts in before Akuma suddenly rush into the room, trying to grab and restrain him. He fights them for all he is worth, but eventually one of them injects something into his arm and within moments, Allen looses consciousness. The Akuma are quick to secure his wrists and ankles before dragging him out of the room.

….

Little did any of the nekos know, but a tall blond female Noah was busy writing down all of their actions and reactions of this encounter in accurate detail. The woman looks at her notes and back at the room fondly. She knows that she is close to picking the right one, and once that is done, then the real work will begin.

….

"-llo."

A voice cuts through the darkness that has been surrounding Allen like a suffocating blanket.

"Hello?"

Stronger this time, the voice slowly helps Allen to regain consciousness and fight back the darkness.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?"

There is a slight tapping on Allen's forehead.

"HELLO!"

This time Allen's eyes snap open and he abruptly tries to sit up, startled by the shouting near his ear. Effectively, he ends up head-butting the person leaning over him. Allen falls back with a yelp of pain, a hand raised protectively and soothingly over his now throbbing head.

"You know, just a simple 'Hello' or 'Go away' would have worked just fine. No need to get violent over a little lost sleep." A slightly muffled voice groans across from Allen.

Allen moves his hand so that he can see whoever it is that is sitting on the other end of whatever he is laying. For now all he can see is a rather skinny blond neko, whose tail is curled in their lap, on the other end of what appears to be some sort of couch in what looks like an open living room. Allen is immediately distracted more so by the room, and what it might mean, than by the blond neko.

However, his view is suddenly blocked when a smiling face blocks his view. "Let's try this again, ok?" Allen takes a moment to recover from the shock and nods slowly. The blond neko backs off to the other end of the couch before speaking again. "Hello! My name is Fai and I've been instructed to be your guide for the next couple of hours. Now, what's your name?"

By now, Allen is no longer paying attention to what Fai is saying, but rather to Fai himself. The short wavy blond hair frames his pale face very precisely, two mismatched eyes, one bright blue the other gold, watch him closely as they wait for a response. A slim golden tail rests in his lap as blond neko continues to smile at him, a smile that does not quite reach his eyes. But the most striking detail for Allen, is the fact that Fai's soft golden ears are still folded, much like his.

It is then that Allen realizes the most vital aspect. Fai is a Bearer. He reaches out a hand to touch his ears, to see if they are real, but pauses mere inches away, his shock evident.

"You know, staring is very impolite. Besides, you never answered my question." Fai gives him a fake pout as he watches Allen quickly try to address his rude behavior.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to be rude. It's just that I've never seen another one before."

Fai gives a knowing look. "Another what?"

Allen lowers his eyes as he catches himself staring again. "Another one like me. Another neko with folded ears. Another Bearer."

Fai's voice lowers a bit. "There aren't very many of us left. Or at least not very many who aren't deep in hiding already. I would be very surprised if you had met another." A smile appears once more, this one attempting to be brighter than the last. "Now that that little observation is out of the way, am I ever going to get a name for you, or do I get to call you whatever I want?"

Allen blinks, startled out of his musings. "Allen. Allen Walker."

A small pout appears on Fai's face. "But that's no fun. Can't I call you something else instead? Like Shion? Or maybe Toshiro?"

Now a small smile starts to appear on Allen's face. "No thank you, I think 'Allen' is just fine."

The pout spreads. "Poo, you're no fun."

Then quicker than Allen could catch, the pout is gone, replaced by a rather mischievous smile. "Well now that Allen-kun has finally given me his name, let's go meet the others." He leaps from the couch, bending to extend a hand to Allen. "Shall we?"

Allen stares at the offered hand for a moment before carefully reaching out his own. The moment his hand is in range, Fai grabs it and pulls him from the couch and across the room, and through a short hallway before stopping by a plain white door. Fai releases his hand just long enough to spin him around and attach a thin collar to his neck.

"As much as I wish we didn't have to wear these, it's better to have one and have no questions asked, than to go without and be punished for it later." He fiddles with Allen's for a moment, before putting his own on. He turns Allen once again so that Allen is facing a mirror. "At least the color suits you."

Allen risks a look in the mirror to find what this new collar is like, and is pleased to see that it is a fairly basic collar with a latch he can undo himself, and the color is a deep red. A color that stirs faint memories of Road, but not enough to cause him any more mental grief. He pulls his gaze away from his reflection and turns to face Fai. His attention is immediately drawn to the bright blue thin collar of a similar design.

His observations of the other neko are halted when Fai grabs his hand once again and rushes him out of the room and into the building beyond. And what he finds there, surprises, and scares him more than he already is.

The halls outside of the room are far more sterile, mostly white with little to no variation of tones, occasionally a few pieces of muted pastel art adorn the walls, but the atmosphere remains the same, albeit the space seem rather bright as sun streams in from a few occasional windows. Too clean, sterile, and above all, completely deserted.

He does not get a chance to dwell on this for too long, for Fai seems to know exactly where he is going, and seem set on reaching their destination as soon as possible. It isn't too long before Fai stops before another door, this one slightly different than the others given that it is a set of double metal doors with two spaces for windows, both of which are currently blocked off so that no one can see in or out.

Fai pauses for a moment before opening one of the metal doors and pulling Allen in along with him. While Allen had no expectations as to where Fai was taking him this whole time, this is certainly like nothing he could have ever imagined.

The room he is now in is rather spacious and there are indications of more rooms being connected to this one, however, it is not the space that captures his attention but rather it's inhabitants. The room is filled with neko kittens of various ages and genders all mingling, playing, reading, and generally doing whatever they want to, wherever they want to. There is one adult neko off to one side of the room, a small kitten in his arms as he watches the others.

When the kittens here the door close, they all turn as one to see who is entering their play area. One of the youngest kittens in the back lets out a squeal of "Mommy's back!" and there is a rush of kittens running towards Fai and Allen.

Fai kneels down and meets the rush of kittens with hugs and kisses all around, as well as promises to come play with them in just a minute. Most of them back off after that, content with their hugs, and now off to do better things. Fai watches them go with a sad smile, but Allen does see some true contentment behind that smile.

The other adult neko approaches them softly, the brunette kitten still sleeping in his arms. As he approaches, Fai goes up to him and eases the kitten into his own arms while mumbling a quite "Thank you" to the other.

It is during this time that Allen takes the opportunity to observe this new neko, who appears to be just a few years older than himself, but still younger than Fai. This neko is also blond, but even paler than Fai, with soft, yet angular features that are defined even more so by his gravity defying ultra light blond spiky hair, and unique blue-green eyes that seem to give off a slight glow. Allen also notes that his collar also matches the color of his eyes. However, one of the most unique features that Allen observes are the newcomers ears and tail. Both are pure white but with black spots covering them, even to the point where the tips of this neko's ears and tail are black. However, his tail is the longest Allen has ever seen, nearly as long as the neko himself is, so that it is dragging the floor when he walks. And finally, like Fai, this newcomer's ears are also folded, signifying that he too is a Bearer.

Allen feel the gazes of the other Bearers on him, and it is then that he realizes that he has been staring for the last while, and quickly averts his eyes and mumbles his apologies. Fai just laughs and ruffles Allen's hair. "It's ok. Everyone stares at Cloud-kun the first time too. After all, he is a rather rare breed." Fai receives a swat at the head for that comment.

The one that Fai called Cloud extends his hand for Allen to shake. "As you probably just heard, my name is Cloud. And obviously you've met Fai."

Allen shakes his hand. "I'm Allen. I'm sorry for staring, I've just – "

"Never seen another Bearer besides Fai before. And I'd wager to guess that you've never met anyone with snow leopard in them before, have you."

"No, no I haven't."

Fai takes the opportunity to jump back in. "Well you better get used to it. There are several of them around here somewhere." He readjusts the sleeping kitten in his arms. "Now, I think that this would be a great opportunity to introduce Allen to everyone." Cloud gives a small shrug of indifference. "What do you say Allen-kun? Are you up to it?"

Allen looks between the two for a moment. "Well, as long as it won't inconvenience anyone." Cloud gives a small snort of amusement. "Then yes that would be nice."

"Alright then. Where to begin? How about we start with the youngest and work our way up? How about that?"

Allen gives a small overwhelmed smile. "Whatever works best for you."

Fai smiles in return and starts off to one of the areas that are spreading off the main room. Inside is a small pile of three kittens sleeping in various positions and states of sleep. Fai kneels down and carefully peals the kitten that has been sleeping in his arms, off and places it back into the pile with the others. Allen quickly notices that each of the kittens in the pile have a color the same color as Fai's.

Fai stands up again and begins to whisper the names of each kitten to Allen. "The one in the corner there, the one with black hair, is Vanitas, he's the oldest in this litter. When he is awake, he has two golden eyes, much like mine. He is also the troublemaker of the litter, but thankfully they are all only five years old, so he can't do too much damage for now. Next to him is Ventus, who is the second oldest and probably the quietest. He and his brother Roxas both get their gold hair from me while Vanitas gets his from my mate. The way to tell Roxas and Ventus apart is that Ventus's hair is slightly less spiky than Roxas's, but even then it can be hard to tell between them. And the youngest one here that is being rather clingy is Sora. When their eyes are open, Ventus, Roxas, and Sora all have brilliant blue eyes. Do not be taken in by them, or else they will run circles around you and have you wrapped around their little fingers."

Allen looks over the sleeping pile of kittens for a moment longer before his brow furrows a bit in confusion. "Fai, am I seeing things or do three of them have folded ears like a Bearer?"

Fai sighs and nods his head. "I don't know how it happened, and have never heard of it happening before, but yes, Roxas, Sora, and Ventus are all Bearers. I almost wish that they weren't, just so that they could have a chance to get out of here, but now that will never happen." He gives them a small smile before turning away. "But no matter what, they are still mine, and I'll love them all the more because of that."

Just then a small silver haired boy runs into the room, white and black spotted tail in his hand instead of dragging on the floor, and starts to shake Sora, trying to wake him up. Cloud walks over to him and scoops him up, causing the kitten to give an undignified squawk before he is turned around and Cloud starts heading back into the main room with Fai and Allen trailing behind.

"Riku, what have I said about waking them up while they're sleeping?"

The kitten called Riku rolls his eyes, eyes that match Cloud's perfectly. "You said not to do it because they are still little and need sleep. But they're only a year younger than me so I don't see what the difference is."

Cloud gives a small exasperated sigh. "They don't have the same amount of energy as you do. So how about you let them sleep for now, they should be up and about soon enough. Why don't you go play with the girls or even your brothers for now instead?"

"But they aren't any fun." He squirms for a minute before Cloud puts him down. "I'll just go color for now." And with that the little silver kitten runs off, his silver hair moving just enough so that Allen catches a glimpse of a collar matching Cloud's in color.

Cloud shakes his head. "There is something off with that one. One moment he can be throwing a tantrum and complaining about Sora, and the next he thinks that they're best friends." He runs a hand over his face. "This is what comes from having only one kitten in a litter. They go a bit funny after a while."

Fai laughs and drapes an arm over Cloud's shoulder. "It could be worse. Be grateful it's only one. You don't have a litter full of girls about to enter puberty together. Now that is a scary thought."

Cloud groans. "We'll never have a moment's peace when that time comes."

Allen just gives a small, confused smile. Watching the two older nekos talk about things he obviously knows nothing about, but still being able to get a sense about them and his new surroundings.

Fai notices Allen's confused look, before attracting his attention once again. "Well since we seem to be finding them in reverse chronological order, shall we go introduce you to the girls?"

Allen gives a small smile and nod before Fai grabs his wrist and starts steering him off to another area of the large room.

Here he sees three female nekos sitting at a table, all of them wearing collars to match Fai's. A blond one is in the center drawing something, a raven, and redhead are on either side of her watching and quietly commenting on it. The girl in the middle looks up when the group approaches. She stands up and grabs her picture before walking up to Allen.

"We heard that someone new was coming so I made this for you." She hands him the picture and he looks at it, surprise by what he sees. In the picture, there are three adult Bearers, all looking surprisingly like Cloud, Fai, himself, all surrounded by neko kittens, eleven kittens in total. She smiles as she watches Allen look over the picture, but before he can thank her, she is back between her sisters with another piece of paper ready to be drawn upon.

Fai smiles at Allen. "Naminé heard that you were coming and wanted to make this for you. She's been working on it for a couple of days now. I don't know how she knew what you looked like, but she did." He looks back at the other girls. "Kairi, the redhead, wanted to help too, but she's not much of the artistic type, but Xion, the raven, went around and found everyone so that Naminé could draw each of them accurately. Not a bad instance of teamwork for a group of seven year old girls."

Allen looks at him in surprise. "What do you mean that they're only seven? They seem much older than that."

Fai's smile falters for a moment. "Because that's how neko kittens age. You should know this. Or did you not grow up with any other kittens?"

"I grew up with one. He's sort of my mate now. He's a couple of years older than me."

Fai gives him a sympathetic look. "So then you would have never seen these changes until now, because your mate is older than you. Well it looks like it's up to us to teach you everything we know. Right Cloud-kun?"

Cloud opens his mouth to speak but the doors are thrown open once again, and a trio of young silver haired kittens waltz in. Cloud gives them one unconcerned look before it is quickly replaced by a look of fury that crosses his face and he marches over to them.

"Which one of you thought that is was funny to throw Riku into the hall last night? Did you think it was funny that they got in an uproar and thought that someone had either broke in or was trying to sneak out? I hope you know that thanks to your actions we are all under suspended privileges and extra security for the next month. And besides all of that, you three are all grounded until one of you tells me who did it, whether you or one of your brothers. Do I make myself clear?"

Two heads hang in shame while the third, and shortest kitten glares at his mother. "I don't have to listen to anything you say. The only one with authority over me is Father, the sooner you realize that the better." The kitten strides past his parent with indifference, giving the siblings behind him a small glare of frustration before continuing further into the room.

Cloud gives a sigh before turning back to the other two. "Well I think that that answers that question. The two of you are no longer grounded, but be warned that if I ever catch either of you doing, or planning anything like that again, you will live to regret it."

The two remaining kittens mumble quick 'I understands' before walking quietly away from their enraged mother.

As the two leave, Fai and Allen make their way over to Cloud, who is starting to visibly deflate in defeat. Fai pats Cloud on the shoulder. "It's not your fault. They learned their behavior from their sire, not you. But at least Yazoo and Loz are starting to take responsibility for their actions. They may be from the same sire, but I think that those two will turn out ok in the end. After all, they are only eight years old, so they have some time."

"Yeah, time to become more like him. Even Kadaj knows that I can't do too much to them to try and set them straight. He'll just undermine me in the end, just like he always does."

The two fall silent at this, leaving Allen with more questions than answers.

It is Cloud that breaks his silence first. "I hope that that mate of yours is really something or else you just found yourself in hell."

Allen watches him, trying to figure out what he means, or if there is another meaning. Eventually he gives in and asks. "What do you mean by that? What is this place anyway?"

Cloud's eyes widen for a moment. "You don't know? You really don't know? Didn't Fai tell you?"

Allen looks at Fai, hoping for some clarity. Fai looks at him with guilt in his eyes. "Allen Walker, welcome to the Breeding Program."


	23. Where You Are

Chapter 22

Kanda glares at the mirror in front of him. Hoping, that it will just relent under his gaze and turn back into a window, letting him see his mate once again. The longer his demands are denied, the more likely it seems to him that the Noah are somehow behind wherever it is that they are now. Only they could possibly be so twisted and sadistic as to do something like this to them, simply because they can.

Kanda lets a frustrated sigh slip out as he begins to pace around the small room, searching for something to possibly break the glass with, or even something to make it change back into a window to let him see his Moyashi again. When nothing immediately comes to his attention, another frustrated sigh escapes.

He begins to make his way back to the wall of glass when a strange sound begins to slip almost silently into the air. His ears twitch in an effort to discern exactly where the noise is coming from, but it proves difficult, as the sound seems to be everywhere, and yet nowhere all at once.

Slowly, Kanda begins to feel very tired, his lungs begin to burn, and the weight of his body slowly brings him closer and closer to the ground. This alerts Kanda to the true meaning of the strange sound.

Gas.

They are gassing the room for some reason.

Kanda tries to will his body to move, to try to get to any higher point to try to escape the gas, but with so much of it already coursing though his system, he is unable to move anywhere but down towards the floor and further into the gas.

….

As his consciousness drifts around the dark recesses of his mind, Kanda slowly begins to become aware that things are not as they are supposed to be. For one, his mate is not in his arms as he sleeps, and there is no lingering scent of his Moyashi anywhere. And the other, most blaring oddity is the feeling of a thin collar around his neck.

This last realization kicks Kanda's mind back into gear, forcing him to bolt upright from his forced sleep. A quick look around shows him that he simply in a room, not much bigger than the previous one, but this one has a bed on which he is currently sitting, and no mirror like the previous room.

Cautiously, Kanda eases himself to stand next to the bed. The remnants of the gas still in his system, making his limbs still feel abnormally heavy and uncoordinated. He gives a small sarcastic chuckle when he realizes just how much work it feels like he did, and all just to simply stand up.

After giving himself a few minutes to get used to his now vertical position, he slowly and carefully makes his way across the room towards a small metal door that is set in the wall opposite the bed. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only minutes, Kanda finds himself in front of the door, peering out of its small glass window into the hallway beyond.

After about a minute of staring into the hallway, a slight movement in what appears to be a nearly identical room across the hall catches his attention. As the movements from the other room become more apparent, Kanda is able to make out enough features to be positive that it is Alma in the other room. Seeing his friend, Kanda raises a hand to the window, hoping that the movement will catch Alma's attention.

The moment his hand clears the glass, Alma's attention successfully snaps towards him. The two stare at each other for a moment, especially at the black collars they both wear, before a brief wave of relief is felt between the two.

However, their moment is interrupted when there is a sudden shrill buzzing, and the sound of locks sliding back. The two stare at each other a moment longer before tentatively pushing at their doors. After a slight delay of resistance, both doors swing out into the hallway.

The two nekos exit their rooms and take a couple of steps down the hall as the doors to their rooms close once again. No words are said to one another, as they both understand that their next step is to look for Allen.

After looking up and down the hallway, they notice that there is only one other door besides the two leading to the rooms. Otherwise, the hallway is simply long, empty, and completely void of any other landmarks, rooms, or windows.

The pair head to the only other door, which is situated at one end of the hallway. After taking a moment to note that this door is solid beige colored, painted door without windows, the two pull at the handle together. What they see on the other side is not what either of them could have expected.

They file into the comfortable looking room, quickly taking note of the two plush looking couches that face each other with a simple solid plastic coffee table between them. A small kitchenette makes up one corner of the room, and a table and chairs enough to fit up to six people is opposite of that. Another corner of the room is blocked off, and an open door reveals a small bathroom inside.

But the most stunning and surprising aspect of the room is that from nearly floor to ceiling of the wall with the kitchen and table is almost completely glass, only a couple of feet near the floor is solid concrete.

The two look out the window and the view leaves them speechless. A rather large room with several smaller off shooting rooms is visible below them, but the most surprising thing of all is the inhabitants of that room.

Nekos. Nearly a dozen of them at first glance.

A closer inspection reveals two older, possibly adult nekos, both suprsingly enough, appear to be Bearers, at least from this level. There also appears to be three nearly teenage, silver haired nekos as well, but they seem to be heading towards a set of double doors. But the rest seem to all be fairly young kittens running about.

Their observations are interrupted when a door suddenly opens. The two quickly spin around to see another dark haired male neko enter the room through the same door that they themselves came through not that long ago. The newcomer looks up to see Kanda and Alma looking back at him. Making a rough sort of grunting noise the newcomer says, "It's too early for this" before making a beeline for the kitchen, and resulting coffee maker.

Kanda and Alma silently watch the newcomer as he goes about making his coffee and wandering over to the table to pick up an outdated newspaper. They quickly note his short black hair, and slim black collar. After a few minutes of their staring, the newcomer lifts a hand over the paper and waves them over. They take seats opposite of each other at the table, but with an extra seat between either of them and the newcomer.

The newcomer sets the paper down, sets his elbows on the table and folds his hands together. "First things first, who are you two, and what exactly what are you doing here?"

Alma speaks up before Kanda even opens his mouth. "I'm Alma Karma, and that deadly looking fellow is Kanda. Now I have no idea as to where we even are, so I don't think that we can answer that last question of yours before you explain a bit of what's going on here Mr. ummm?"

"Kurogane." Seeing a look of confusion the newcomer rolls his eyes. "Kurogane, that's my name, and that's all you need to know. Now you two can't be completely oblivious to where you are, can you? I saw you looking out that window. That alone should practically scream your location."

A heavy silence settles across the table. A silence that Kanda breaks with one simple statement. "We're at the Breeding Program, aren't we."

Alma's eyes shoot up to meet his. "You can't be serious." He looks at the glaring red eyes of Kurogane, "Tell me that this is some kind of sick twisted joke."

Those red orbs close in regret. "It's true, and the sooner you accept it, the better." His eyes open once more and wander back and forth between the two neko in front of him. "However, I am wondering why there are two of you? They announced a few months ago now that a new Bearer would be arriving, but they said nothing of a mate, so we assumed that he would be alone. Seeing one of you would be no surprise, seeing that one of you would probably be a mate, or potential mate to this kid. But for two of you to be here, something must be up."

Alma opens his mouth to speak, but Kurogane holds up a hand to stop him. "For whatever reason the two of you are here now is none of my concern and it should stay that way. I'm going to guess that this is probably the result of some scheme to protect the Bearer gone wrong, and that one of you is his mate, and the other was just trying to protect him. Then again, it's just a guess on my part." A sigh escapes him. "I don't need to know any more than that, just as long as you don't do anything to hurt that kid. God knows that Bearers have to deal with too much shit as it is."

Kanda simply nods his agreement and turns towards the window. "So if this is the Breeding Program, I'm assuming that you're the mate to one of the Bearers in the room below."

Kurogane follows his gaze with a small grin. "Yep, and I'll say that he is probably the most stubborn and irritating person I've ever met." He goes up and stands in front of the window, gesturing to Alma and Kanda to follow him. "See those two older blonds over by that table with the girls? They are the only two adult Bearers here other than the one you came with. They are Fai and Cloud. The tall skinny one is Fai, he is my mate. The other is paired with Sephiroth, another rather obnoxious neko that you'll probably meet later on."

Kanda interrupts him. "Why did you say that Cloud is paired with this Sephiroth person, and not mated with him? Has Cloud not found his mate yet, even at this age?"

Kurogane reaches to scratch the back of his head for a moment. "Those two are a bit complicated. From what I understand, Cloud was originally mated to another called Zack, but Sephiroth killed his mate and took Cloud as his own. And even though the two of them are pureblooded snow leopard nekos, they have only had cubs through force since Cloud's heart still belongs to his dead mate, though the two of them haven't been fighting like they used to as much. Probably starting to wear each other down after so many years here."

Kurogane retreats back to the table to retrieve his coffee before continuing. "Those two have four cubs here. The three oldest are triplets, and currently the oldest cubs here. They leave for lessons during part of the day but will be back later. And their youngest isn't that much older than my own youngest litter. He was a single cub that seems to take more after his bearer than his sire. All of them look alike with silver hair like their sire, and a combination of blue-green eyes."

He takes a swig of his coffee before continuing. "Now the rest of the kittens belong to Fai and I. The oldest of ours are the three girls over by the table, they can be a bit of a handful since they take after their bearer a bit too much if you ask me with all of their mischief. And our youngest kittens are those four young boys that are wandering into the corner room over there. That litter is a bit strange because three of them ended up as Bearers, something I've never heard of happening before, but they'll be treated just the same as the rest."

Kanda tears his eyes from the seemingly peaceful sight below him. "How did you find your mate?"

Kurogane frowned for a moment. "I used to be a guard for the Princess Tomoyo, she often visited other lands, and in one of those trips I met Fai. Unfortunately, we happened to be there while he was going though a heat cycle, and though his twin, Yuui, was smart enough to try and stay near him to mask the scent of the heat, it didn't really work. I ended up coming back with Tomoyo several times for political reasons, and it was during our last trip there that Fai's master, the King Ashrua, discovered us. Right after that, by mutual consent of both of our rulers, we were sent here, and we've been stuck here ever since."

Alma frowns and moves away from the window. He makes his way over to the couches and simply let's himself fall on one. "So why haven't you tried to escape yet? I mean I get that it would be hard with kittens, but don't you want to leave this place?"

Kurogane's attention snaps to him, his eyes burning with a hardly retained rage. "You think we like it here? That we are content here? That we want our children to go through the things they will have to because they are here? Then you need to think again. We've been trying for years to escape, but so far the kittens have been too young to try to get out of here without giving themselves away. I'll have you know that someday soon, we will be getting out of here, and my litters will be able to live a better life because of it." His eyes narrow to dangerous slits. "I don't ever want to hear you speak that way of my family again. Do you hear me?"

Alma slowly nods his head, and averts his eyes.

However, his attention is distracted when he hears Kanda breath a sudden, "Moyashi" under his breath. This sends him scrambling back to the window.

Sure enough, Allen is being led into the room by Fai. Kanda watches him look around for a moment, and wishes that he could call out to his mate, but from the way things seem to work around here, he doubts that his Moyashi would be able to hear him, let alone see him. So for the time being, he settles for setting his hand on the glass.

….

After watching Allen interact with the other nekos for a while, the three eventually make their way into the kitchenette and the preparations for lunch begin. Not a word is spoken the entire time, as each is lost in their own worlds and ideas of being at the Breeding Program. As they sit down to eat, the door opens once again and this time a rather imposing neko enters.

Kanda automatically figures that this must be the one called Sephiroth that Kurogane told him and Alma about. The long silver hair and bright green cat like eyes, as well and the long spotted tail and ears are a dead give away. This neko says nothing to the group but simply goes about looking in the fridge for any food not already claimed for lunch by the others.

The tall silver neko remains silent the entire time as he makes himself a plate of food before exiting the room just a few minutes later.

Kurogane lets out an audible sigh of relief after he has left the room. "I'm surprised they even let him in here today. His current round of punishments isn't supposed to end until the end of the week." Kurogane looks at the clock that hangs just above the door for a moment. "They must be letting him off for good behavior or some such nonsense."

Kanda looks up from his food. "Punishment? Why would he be under some type of punishment?"

Kurogane's jaw tightens a bit. "Last week he got into another fight with Cloud, only he ended up hitting one of my Bearer kittens not long after, and so he was stuck with an initial punishment of isolation for a couple of days. But apparently Cloud went into heat that same night so he broke out just for that. I swear he tries to knock up that guy as often as he can."

"Wait, you said that he hit one of your kittens. So that means that he must have been in the same room as the others, right?"

Kurogane gives Kanda a strange look. "Yeah, it's not like we stay up here all day. Normally we get to go join everyone right after lunch unless there's someone new to show around like today. Otherwise we should get to go join the rest of them soon."

A look of pure relief spreads across Kanda. "Good. I thought that they were going to take Moyashi away until his heat came."

"Moyashi? That's a strange name for anyone. I'll admit that yes his is white and all, but really? A beansprout? Did his parents not love him?"

Alma shakes with quiet laughter. "His name's not Moyashi, that's just what Kanda's always called him for some reason. His name is Allen. Allen Walker."

Kurogane laughs a bit at this. "To each his own I guess." He takes another look at the clock. "You guys ready to go and join the others, or do you want to stay here a little longer?"

The two stare at him like he is crazy. Together they answer, "We want to go see him now."


	24. Unexpected News

Chapter 23

For the rest of the morning, Allen remains silent, knowing that his worst fears have been confirmed. The two older nekos respectfully give him the time and distance he needs, however, when naptime ends the once sleeping kittens begin to gather around him.

It started off rather simply, one by one the kittens woke up and sleepily wandered out of the small room, and after catching sight of Allen sitting by himself, came over and tried to wiggle their way into his lap. Soon Allen has not choice but to look up at the wide and curious blue eyes, and is quickly take in by them.

The two blonds, Roxas and Ventus, each grab an arm and begin to try to pull Allen to his feet. At first Allen resists, but when he feels a third kitten behind him, trying to push Allen to his feat while its brothers pull, Allen relents with a small smile and lets the kittens pull him where they will. They lead him over to the table that the girls had previously been drawing, but now the space is occupied with Fai and Cloud.

The two look up from their conversation when they catch sight of Allen being dragged towards him. Fai smiles and waves them closer, taking time to hug and tickle each of his kittens for their work. Cloud simply sits there and smiles at their antics, but is also keeping a watchful eye on his youngest that is currently trying to sneak up on a certain brunette kitten.

Once the kittens are satisfied that their job is done, they scurry off to their own doings, leaving the three adults alone. Allen looks at the others sheepishly, hoping that they were not offended by his previous actions. When both give him small nods of acceptance, he takes a seat next to Cloud so that he can still see the kittens playing throughout the room.

"You know Allen," Fai begins, his voice somewhat sad and distant, "it wasn't always like this around here. So open and friendly. It used to be so cold and cut off from everything. You never really saw anyone other than your mate on occasion, but now, now everything is so much more oriented around the kittens and them being able to interact and grow. And we have you to thank for that."

Allen tilts his head to the side ever so slightly, not understanding what Fai is trying to tell him. Fai and Cloud both turn their attention to him, but this time Cloud speaks. "If you hadn't caught the eye of the Noah's, well I believe it is safe to say that they never would have made so many donations or arrangements with this place, so far all of which have benefited us and our children."

"But more importantly, there has been on thing that has changed the most, and it could possibly be exploited so that –" His words are cut off as the sound of the metal doors opening.

Allen turns to see what is going on, and what he sees makes his eyes widen in disbelief. He jumps out of his seat and runs towards the newcomer that is calming walking towards him. With each step that brings him closer, his heart seems to want to burst out of his chest, even though it seems to tighten at the same time.

The moment that the figure is close enough, Allen jumps on to him, wrapping his arms around the figure and enjoying the feeling of being in his mate's arms once more. Their tails intertwine so that they are able to come even closer to one another. The two stay like that for some time, simply basking in each other's presence. Allen rests his head on Kanda's shoulders, enjoying the feeling of Kanda's heart beating against him, and taking the time to breath in the unique scent of his mate.

After finally lifting his head, Allen looks behind Kanda to see two more nekos entering the room, one that he has never seen before, and one that he had been worrying over since he woke up. He carefully releases one hand from its hold on Kanda's neck to wave to Alma, gesturing for him to come over.

When Alma is finally standing next to Allen and Kanda, Allen reaches over and pulls Alma into a hug, all while still managing to keep his legs wrapped around Kanda's waist, pulling the three of them together. Though the hug is much shorter than the one with Kanda, the relief is still evident for both of them.

As the three of them separate back into their previous positions, Allen turns at the sound of a third set of footsteps and sees the other neko that came in before Kanda. The two stare at each other for a moment, and Kanda's grip tightens ever so slightly, but once the stranger extends his hand to Allen, the tension eases, and Allen cautiously shakes the offered hand.

The dark haired stranger lets out a slight grunting sound as Fai suddenly jumps onto his back, all the while smiling at Allen. "It's nice to see the four of you getting along so well. Allen, this is my mate, Kuro-poo."

The dark haired neko sighs. "It's Kurogane." He looks over his shoulder at his mate. "And who told you that you could go and feed the newbie false information before I even get a chance to meet him?" Fai simply smiles before hopping off of his back. Kurogane rolls his eyes as he watches his mate walk away and start calling their kittens to him. He turns back to take another look at Allen before speaking to Kanda. "Well here comes the fun part, you guys get to help us find all of the kittens and herd them into the cafeteria down the hall so that people can finally eat."

Allen reluctantly releases his grip on Kanda and lowers himself to the floor. He gives Kanda and Alma a quick smile before heading off to help look for any missing kittens. Kanda stares after him, wondering just how his Moyashi has been able to become so comfortable and open around these strangers already.

After a few minutes the kittens have all been found and the short trek down the hall into a rather spacious cafeteria continues without incident. Upon entry, the kittens scatter once more, each one trying to find a spot that they liked that was not already taken by someone else.

Fai releases a sigh and shakes his head before leading the rest of the adults over to a counter where multiple dishes of food are already waiting. He instructs each person to grab two plates each and then to go set them at the large table stainless steel that dominates the center of the room.

As the food is distributed, the kittens calm down and focus on their meal, or trying to take the meal off of someone else's plate. During this time, the doors to the cafeteria open once more, only this time Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz file in behind their sire. The tension in the air becomes almost visibly high and the four silver haired nekos make their way to the table, the youngest three sitting closer to the younger kittens while Sephiroth takes a seat across from Cloud.

With all of the adults now present and sitting at one end of the table, Allen can sense that there are many mixed feelings surrounding them. Some of them are surly his, but the others are so mixed and confused that he can no longer tell what any of the others might be thinking.

One thing that Allen does notice however, is the fact that each of the adult bearers has a plate of food in front of them, but none of their mates or Alma does. Allen turns to his left and looks up at Kanda, the question clear in his eyes. Kanda simply runs his hands through his hair, reassuring him that everything is alright.

Seeing the simple gesture makes Cloud visibly relax somewhat, knowing that Allen has a good mate for himself helps to lift some of the tense atmosphere. Just his simple reaction helps the rest of the table relax somewhat, but the tension is still thick.

After a few minutes of this, Allen begins to fidget a bit in his seat, wishing that there were some way that he can ease the tension. After a moment of thought, he turns to Cloud. "So what were you trying to say earlier? Before we left for lunch?"

Cloud looks up at him, a surprised look on his face, and a slight frown as he tries to recall what he was trying to say at the time. As he contemplates whatever it was he said, Fai interjects with the missing thought. "What he meant to say is that thanks to you," he lowers his voice to a whisper, "we now have a chance to get out of here."

Small sparks of hope light up the eyes of the adult nekos with those words. But the sparks are restrained, as if none of them dares to believe that escape could ever be a real possibility.

Allen's brow furrows for a moment. "But you said that these changes started a while ago. Why wait until now? Or do you mean that if things keep changing like they have, then it might be a possibility?"

Cloud's quiet voice answers this time. "Initially, we were going to leave as soon as all of the kittens and cubs were old enough to be able to keep up and stay quiet. But then we knew that we couldn't let anyone else be condemned to this fate, no matter how many improvements are made here, it is nothing short of a prison." He stops for a moment as deep cutting emotions threaten to seep into his voice. "We knew that we had to get you out too."

A silence settles over the table for a moment before Kurogane speaks. "And while things might have changed a bit," he gestures at Alma, "We can leave as soon as we work on the fine details with you, and then we can work on picking out the best time for everyone to leave."

The sparks of hope seem to ignite small fires around the table. However, there is one who does not share those sparks.

"And our time was wasted. If we wait around any longer than it might take years to get everyone out safely and at the same time. And by then who knows what might happen." Sephiroth's words are like a blade cutting through those flames of hope, diminishing some quickly, while others only waver with his words.

Alma's words bite back. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean? Are you saying that this is somehow our fault?"

"Well obviously the albino didn't get pregnant on his own, now did he?" Seeing the surprised looks across the table, Sephiroth releases an aggravated sigh before standing. "I can't believe that none of you noticed. He practically reeks of it!" And with that he strides towards the door, causing all of the petty arguing amongst the kittens and cubs to die down and watch as he storms out.

All eyes swivel to the adults, curious as to what just happened. Curious, except for one set of green eyes that are glaring daggers at his blond mother.

Allen looks at all of the eyes now trained on him, feeling uncomfortable, he shrinks back into his seat a bit. Alma leans over so that his head is practically resting on Allen's right shoulder. He takes a deep inhale of breath before slowly releasing it, watching as it makes Allen's hair shift with the resulting breeze.

As he pulls away, he looks up at Kanda. A strange look of pride and regret filling his eyes as they drift between the pair. Alma still wishes that they would both let him into their lives, but at the same time, he couldn't be happier to see them together once more.

Alma looks back to the others that are watching him, waiting for his verdict. "It's true."

Tears form in Allen's eyes, and for what reason he is not sure. Memories of loss and pain from the last time it happened fill his mind. But a small part of him is secretly overjoyed at finally being able to have a litter with Kanda. A litter that should be able to survive this time.

A large hand envelops his own, holding it and squeezing it gently. Allen looks up to see Kanda give him a fain smile, one that seems to quirk at his lips, threatening to become something much larger.

They share a brief knowing look before turning back to the others. This time, Kanda speaks up. "We appreciate that you would want to help us leave as well, but you should take the chance as soon as you can to get out of here. As long as you make it out safely, we'll be fine. We'll find our own way out eventually."

"You say that like it's so simple." Alma looks at Kanda, his eyes nearly burning in disbelief. "If they manage to make it out, you know what will happen don't you? This place will become even more difficult to get out of on your own." He sees Kanda give him a look that says won't you be coming with us? "Be realistic Yuu, it won't take them long to figure out that you're Allen's mate, not me. And you know what will happen then. I'll probably be sent back to the Black Ark, and there is no way in hell that I'm going back to that place."

Allen grabs Alma's hand. "Then go with them. Go, and be safe and free."

"Allen, you know I won't do that. That I can't do that. I'm not leaving you and Yuu in a place like this."

"And maybe you won't have to." All eyes widen a fraction as they focus on Cloud. "I'll go and talk to Sephiroth, and see if there is anyway that we can leave within the week. We should still have that long before it becomes too dangerous for Allen."

Fai sets a hand on his shoulder, concern heavy in his eyes. "We'll find some other way, you don't have to do that unless you really want to.

"You know that there's no other way. If there was I would have taken it a long time ago." The last words were so quietly muttered that only a few really heard what he said as he stood from his chair. "Can I ask you to check every once in a while to make sure that they are behaving?"

Fai smiles, though the smile does not quite meet his eyes. "No problem."

As the blond neko leaves the room, Fai mutters at the table, "I hope he knows what he's doing."

….

After lunch, the group went back into the large room from that morning, and each wandered off to do something or another. After an hour or so, the food seemed to be doing its job and one by one the kittens and cubs drifted off into dreamland.

One of Fai's kittens, the brunette named Sora, somehow managed to fall asleep in Allen's lap, his soft breathing bring a sad smile to the older neko's face. Just moments later, Kanda, who also has a kitten with him, sits down next to him and they both lean against the wall.

"What are we going to do? I had no idea that this was going to happen, and now everything that they planned will be for nothing." A single tear escapes and slowly slides down the pattern of Allen's mark.

Kanda leans over, mindful of the two kittens, and places a soft kiss on the tear, effectively stopping it in its tracks. "We are going to do whatever it takes for you to stay healthy and have a healthy litter. Even if it means staying here longer while the others leave. Once things settle down for us and the litter is old enough to leave, then we'll go."

"But what if they . . . what if they don't make it again? I don't know if I can handle that again Kanda."

"Moyashi, I highly doubt that a place like this would let any of them die. Besides, there are my kittens too, and that means that they are going to be tough and that they will survive." He places a small kiss on Allen's head before looking down at the kittens they are holding. "And if the worst happens, then we allow ourselves to grieve and eventually, we move on. But no matter what happens, we will always have each other."

At that moment, the kittens chose to wake up, their respective blue and golden eyes blinking tiredly at the people holding them. The two kittens give a small hug to those holding them before carefully climbing out of their laps and walking towards their parents.

Kanda and Allen watch them leave, small smiles threatening to break out at the sight. They turn to each other and give each other a small peck on the lips.

"You know Kanda, maybe this will turn out alright after all."


	25. Plans of Escape

Chapter 24

When evening finally begins to roll around, some of the earlier routines seem to play out once again. The kittens and cubs are all rounded up once more and herded into the cafeteria for an evening meal, and in many ways it proceeded in much the same way as before with only a few small differences. The main difference being that each neko had a plate of food waiting for them, not just the bearers and little ones.

By now everyone is tired enough to take a seat without much complaint, however, once everyone is sitting at the table, the two empty seats ring much louder than anything else. Cloud has yet to return, and the tension and slight fear radiating off of Fai and Kurogane is enough to make everyone wary as well.

The meal progressed quietly and rather quickly. By the time that everyone has eaten their fill, some of the younger kittens are starting to nod off in their spots, heads threatening to become one with the plates before them. Noticing the encroaching sleep, Fai and Kurogane gesture for Allen, Kanda, and Alma to help clear away the dishes and urge, and if need be, pick up a kitten or two and follow them.

They travel down just a few short hallways before coming to a single door with guard on either side. One of the guards steps forward and goes up to each neko scanning the collars and making small notes on a device that seems to get information from the collars. Once the guard has scanned each of the collars, the other guard unlocks the door and lets the group begin to file into the new hallway.

However, once Alma tries to step through the door, the guard with the scanner grabs his arm, halting is progress.

Sensing that something is wrong, Allen turns back to see Alma standing alone outside the door, his arm in a tight hold from one of the guards. He sees the guard start to pull Alma away, as the other guard begins to close and lock the door once more. Seeing what is about to happen, Allen turns and runs towards the door.

With each step of his feet pounding against the floor, he feels as though he is moving in slow motion while the guard and door are moving at a normal speed. As Allen gets closer to the door, he can hear the lock clicking shut, but that doesn't stop him from running straight into it, as though hoping that the door and lock are much weaker than they appear. Pain immediately erupts up his side causing him to grimace while still trying to open the door.

Alma looks back after hearing a loud thumping sound. Upon seeing Allen's pained face as he struggles against the door, Alma struggles harder against the grip on his arm, trying to get to Allen, to try and reassure him that things will be all right in the end. However, the guard's grips is just too strong for him at the moment, and step by step he is dragged farther and farther away, visibly causing Allen to panic even more.

As Alma is dragged away, he catches one last glimpse of Allen before loosing sight of him. In that brief instant, Alma saw Kanda come up behind Allen and gently place a hand on his shoulder, trying to help him calm down. Guilt, and something akin to jealousy tries to rise in Alma's mind, but knowing that he does not belong with them, not like he would have to be in a place like this, helps to put his mind at ease as he is pulled further and further away from his two friends.

….

The hallway behind the guarded door happens to be the living quarters of the nekos at Breeding Program. A series of doors line each side of the hall and at the end opposite of the only door into the area is a small collection of comfy looking seats around a small table. The atmosphere at that one spot is so completely different than the rest of the hall, which at first Allen does not know what to make of it.

Allen sees Kanda further down the hall staring at one of the doors with a somewhat murderous expression. Upon closer examination it is revealed that the door has a single number painted onto it, and underneath that number is a small sick on tag with both of their names on it.

Seeing that Kanda is not likely to be making a move soon, Allen reaches past him and gently pulls the handle of the door, effectively opening the door into their new room. The inside is fairly simple, a single area with a couple of chairs, a half wall separating a bathroom area, and another wall with four doors. One of these doors is already open; the others stand blankly against the wall.

Allen walks up first to one of the closed doors, only to find it locked. He then proceeds to try it with the other two, finding that they too are locked. Eventually he goes and looks into the room behind the one open door. Inside is a fairly small and bland room with a small dresser and a single medium sized bed. The room itself is completely white, like the rest of the space, and the only break away from the same color is the occasional silvery colored object in the small room and the slightly larger room that connects to the hall.

Allen walks over to the bed and slowly lowers himself on to it, feeling the weight of the day bringing him down. The squeaking of the bed must have acted like a summons for Kanda, for not a moment later; Kanda is striding across the room, and finding a seat next to his Moyashi.

No words are spoken between the two, but there are none that need to be voiced at that moment. Instead, the two simply sit there, holding one another, leaning on each other for the much needed support in their new situation.

After what seems like mere minutes, but is a few hours in all actuality, there is a soft knocking at their door. The two share a brief look of confusion and exhaustion before Kanda stands up and makes his way over to the door. Upon opening it, he initially sees no one, but a soft cough brings his attention a bit lower.

Kanda looks down to find the blond kitten called Namine smiling shyly up at him. She looks behind Kanda and gives a small wave to Allen who is quietly coming up behind his mate. Once both of them are at the door, she gestures for them to follower her. After sharing a quizzical look, the two make an agreement to follower her.

She leads them down the hall to the small sitting area. Once there, she runs up to her parents and gives them both a short hug before running off and into one of the other rooms scattered throughout the hallway.

Fai and Kurogane gesture for Kanda and Allen to sit at one of the few remaining chairs. Once they find seats, no words are spoken as though they are all waiting for something, even if they do not know what that 'something' is.

Moments later, one of the doors is thrown open so hard that it crashes against the wall shattering the previous silence. Sephiroth storms out, his eyes are narrowed as if daring someone to stop him, or come near him. He makes his way to the only door out and bangs loudly on it. "Hey, I need to see Hojo. Something's wrong with Cloud."

Kanda and Allen shoot each other questioning glances, each one not sure exactly what is going on, and yet sharing worry for their new friend.

The door opens almost immediately and Sephiroth continues to storm down the hallway despite one of the guards trying to desperately catch up to the much larger neko.

A few minutes later, after everything seems to have calmed down some, the same door that Sephiroth slammed against the wall opens once more and a blond head carefully looks up and down the hallway, seemingly checking to see if the coast is clear.

A moment later, Cloud dashes out of the room and over to the small sitting area. He quickly takes a seat on the floor slightly behind Fai and Kurogane. This spot gives him an advantage to see if anyone is coming down the hall, but mostly blocks himself from view unless someone looked closely.

Cloud keeps his voice soft and quick. "He'll see what he can do. He says that he can't guarantee anything, but if it can work on the other side as well, we by the end of the week before something will happen. If nothing happens, then it means that somewhere along the lines we were compromised, and we'll have to start over from scratch again."

Fai releases a small sigh. "Well it can't be helped I guess. I mean it is rather short notice, especially with circumstances being what they are. Thank you for doing this, I just hope it wasn't too rough to try and sway him to try and see things our way."

A dark chuckle fills the air. "It wasn't so bad this time. Sephiroth hasn't been to see Hojo in a couple of weeks, meaning that he has regained some of himself, but I don't know for how much longer he can escape that maniac's grasp."

"Who is 'Hojo'?" Asks Kanda, his voice fairly even, but some concern still manages to linger.

"Hojo," Cloud begins, "Hojo was initially the 'doctor' assigned to the mates of each of the bearers here, however, once the Noah began to influence how things are run around here, he has been demoted to working much more behind the scenes as it was found that much of his work could be considered unethical and potentially damaging to the purpose behind the Breeding Program."

"What do you mean by 'potentially damaging'?" Kanda's words are staring to pick up a slight blade in them, cutting into the air with each word.

Another dark chuckle. "To put it simply, nothing good ever comes from Hojo, especially when he manages to 'experiment' on us. Personality and violence are just the tip of the iceberg of what can and has happened. I fear what might come if he is allowed to continue his work."

Allen's voice softly conflicts with Cloud's darker one. "Is that what happened to you and Sephiroth? Did this 'Hojo' person cause the two of you to become the way you are now?"

Kanda shoots Allen a sharp glance that clearly says that was rude. Cloud merely shakes his head. "I'll just say that we have never had a very good relationship to begin with, and none of this has helped. I'm at the point where I worry about his stability. He may have seemed fine today, but at any moment he might snap. And I can't afford to let anyone get caught in the cross fire, least of all the kittens and cubs. Some of them may be his, but that means nothing when he isn't himself."

Allen grows silent, and Kanda's expression darkens. "So how do you know if you can trust him if he is so violently unpredictable?"

"Because I know that he wants out of here just as badly, if not more so than the rest of us. And he's not capable of doing anything to jeopardize that chance of regaining his freedom."

….

Sephiroth finds himself in Hojo's lab, waiting for the maniac to come bursting in at any moment wanting to know what is going on. He does not have to wait long before the hunched over 'doctor' with greasy hair comes in looking agitated.

"This had better be of some importance, so of us do have better things to do than jump every time you tell us to."

Sephiroth merely rolls his eyes, sticking to the lie he and Cloud had agreed upon. "I think you'll find this to be rather important. Cloud doesn't seem to remember having his heat in the last few weeks and since I haven't been allowed to see him I have no doubt that he is correct. And that either means that he's been wandering around with cubs for the last few weeks without proper care, or something else is wrong that is preventing him from going into heat."

"Sephiroth, as much as you know that I would love to go and check on Cloud for you, you know better than anyone that he has been assigned to that idiot Hollander, and is not my problem. However, seeing that this may be vital for the good of the original project here, I can see about getting him a pregnancy test. If it comes back negative you tell Hollander in the morning and leave me out of issues that don't concern me so I can get back to more important things." The 'doctor' steps out of the room in search of the test for Cloud.

As soon as Hojo leaves the room, a guard enters, seemingly there to guard Sephiroth and make sure that he doesn't touch anything. However, Sephiroth knows better and speaks quickly and quietly to the newcomer. "Things have changed. We now have three more to get out, one has been separated from the rest of us, and another is a bearer that is currently in the early stages of carrying a litter. As soon as they find out about him, everything will collapse. We might be able to hide him for a few more days, but we need to get out by the end of the week."

The guard gives a small nod and starts heading back to the door as Hojo reenters the room. Hojo slams the small test in Sephiroth's hand. "Now leave so that I can deal with more important matters."

….

Many miles away in a secluded location a meeting is being held. Members and friends of the Dark Order from all across the globe gather in a single room eager for any news of the goings on in the Breeding Program facility.

A clock ticks on the wall, and as soon as it strikes the hour the room falls deadly silent. No one dares breath for fear that they might miss something. Suddenly a hushed voice crackles across the room.

"It's just as we thought, only we need to move sooner than expected. One of them has been separated from the group and is being held elsewhere in the facility. And one of the bearers is now carrying a litter. We only have a matter of days at best before they find out and make our work up to this point mean absolutely nothing."

The voice disappears and murmurings begin to spread across the room, some louder than others.

One voice shouts out over the rest. "Well, what are we waiting for? If we have so little time we need to get moving now or we won't be able to do anything. I'm not leaving my friends in a place like that."

A hand gently but firmly grasps the shoulder of the girl. "Lenalee, I know that you have friends there, I have someone important to me there too, but we can't just go in with guns blazing. We need to make some adjustments now that there are more people to rescue, and to make sure that we don't jeopardize the health of the pregnant bearer."

"I know all of that, but it doesn't mean I want to just wait around, I want to do something! I just got one of my friends back only to loose him and another right away. I can't just sit and do nothing!" She turns on the neko holding her arm. "You just wouldn't understand." She storms out of the room, her frustration causing people to part before her.

Zack Fair hangs his head and slightly shakes his head. "I understand far more than you know."


	26. Escape

Chapter 25

The next week progressed much like Allen's first day had, with one main exception. The tension and anxiety in the air has been growing thicker and more unbearable nearly every hour. Everyday activities are carried out in a much delayed fashion, as though hoping that something will happen, something out of the ordinary that will throw everything into chaos and signal to them leave right then and there.

It is also in those days that Allen discovers that some of the symptoms of his pregnancy are becoming apparent. Much to his dismay, he soon finds himself in the small bathroom each morning, releasing the few contents of his stomach into the white porcelain as Kanda gently rubs small circles on his back while murmuring words of comfort to him.

Between the tension and the resulting fatigue from not being able to keep most things down, Allen wishes for nothing but the end of that week to come as quickly as possible. And though he would not admit it aloud, he knows in his heart that if anything happens and he ends up slowing the others down should they be able to attempt escape, he will willingly stay behind as a distraction so that the others might have the chance to reclaim their freedom.

He may not have known the other nekos very long, but already they hold a special place in his heart. They understand him more than most others could ever hope to. They have welcomed him with open arms and acceptance, not judging him or asking him about his past. In many ways they have become part of his extended family, a family that he would do anything to protect.

Now it is the last day of the week, the last chance for him and the others to be able to leave before things become overly complicated for all of them once again.

On that day no one made an effort to even try to make things seem normal for any watching eyes. The wariness is extremely evident in their stiff movements and limited attention spans. Any one who cared to look would be able to tell that something is obviously off.

As the afternoon rolls around there seems to be the sparks of a resigned acceptance filtering through the room. It is as though none of the occupants truly want to give up their hope, but the reality seems to be crushing them further and further down.

The tension thickens as the metal doors to the large communal room open and two guards walk silently into the room, shutting the doors behind them. One of them steps even closer and reaches to pull off his helmet.

As the helmet moves, revealing shockingly bright red hair underneath, Allen's eyes grow wide with the sight of his old friend.

Lavi gives a small smirk at the sight of Allen's wide eyes. "Don't tell me that you forgot me already? I'm hurt, truly. Who else is there that will give Yuu a hard time for you?"

With that comment, Kanda's eyes narrow a bit, but a grin cannot help but escape. "Baka Usagi, why'd they send someone like you get us out of here? Are they all color blind back at the Order, or do they not realize just how annoyingly bright that fire on your head is?"

Allen struggles to hold back his laughter, knowing that this is not the appropriate situation for him to be laughing, but he cannot help it. Seeing his mate and his good friend pick up where they must have left off brings light and happy feelings despite the present situation.

Everyone turns to stare at him for a moment, puzzled by his reaction. After a moment, Allen wipes a single tear of happiness from his eye before turning back to his old friend. "Why are you here, Lavi?"

Lavi's face immediately becomes stoic and grim. "We" he gestures to the still masked figure next to him, "are here to get you out of this prison. We are here to make sure that all of you make it out safely. The Order has secured a location where you will be safe and under their protection." He looks about the room, silently counting to make sure that all nekos are accounted for. "Now, I don't know about you, but this place is giving me the creeps, so let's go already."

Lavi turns and starts walking towards the door, not bothering to look back to see if the others are following or not, but judging by the number of footsteps that are already following him, he believes that it is safe to say that they are following.

As everyone quickly urges the kittens together as they begin to follow Lavi, Allen runs over and pulls on the sleeve of the other masked man that entered the room with Lavi, one that has not yet made a move to follow the others out. "What about Alma?"

The masked figure looks down at him. "We already have someone locating him right now." He turns to see that the only neko left in the room with them is Kanda who is carefully watching Allen. "Come on, let's go catch up with the others. Your friend should be meeting us on the way out."

Allen gives a quick nod before running over to Kanda and the two of them hurry out of the room and down the hall to catch up to the rest of the group.

Neither of them turn back, otherwise they would have noticed the slight sway of the black tail of the neko that had followed Lavi into the room.

….

After running through the halls for a few minutes, two figures run towards the group from one of the many perpendicular hallways. Kanda notices out of the corner of his eye and turns to face the newcomers. He lets himself fall into a defensive stance as the figures approach, but quickly straightens at the sight of two more of his friends.

The neko at the end of the group stops and calls Lavi back. Lavi turns, and upon seeing the two standing there, runs over and sweeps the girl with her greenish pigtails into the air before planting a joyous kiss upon her lips. The girl squeals in delight and embarrassment before wiggling out of her hold. As Lavi releases her, Lenalee says nothing before turning back down the hall that she and Alma had initially come from.

Lavi motions for the group to follow him down this new path, again, not looking back to see if the group is keeping up.

After nearly half an hour, the group is beginning to tire from all of the running and stress that has been building. Sirens warning of their escape started a few minutes back, and the sound is causing the sensitive ears of the nekos to ache and cause even more physical pain as the noise continues. This makes them easily distracted, and many of the kittens and cubs are beginning to try to hold their ears and try ease some of the pain.

At one point, Cloud's youngest cub, Riku, trips, causing him to release his ears, and the pain to increase yet again. The young cub begins to cry silently due to the pain, and Cloud is quick to notice. He stops to bend over to pick up his cub, but is roughly pushed to the side by Sephiroth.

Cloud looks up, about to protest when he stops, the word caught in his throat as he sees the older neko attempting to disarm one of the facility guards who had been attempting to inject something into Cloud's neck. Cloud watches the two continue to battle it out for a moment before he scrambles to his feet and picks up Riku, who was also pushed out of the way.

Cloud watches as the masked man that came in with Lavi runs past him, and releases the broadsword that has been strapped to his back. He joins Sephiroth in trying to knock the syringe out of the guard's hand, as well as to knock the small pistol he somehow managed to retrieve from its holster on his leg, out of his other hand.

The three continue to struggle, and all Cloud can manage to do is just sit and watch with stunned eyes as he keeps a tight hold on Riku who is still crying from the noise and fighting going on before him.

Suddenly a shot rings out. Quickly followed by two more. Cloud's ears fly back, and his eyes widen in fear at the sound of the shots.

Sephiroth freezes as well; he looks between the small pistol and his chest, seemingly fascinated by the blooming patches of crimson on his uniform white shirt. Without a sound he sinks to his knees, his breath coming out in shorter bursts.

The black tailed neko gives him a short glance before managing to knock the pistol out of the hand of the guard. Once the guard is disarmed, he retreats from the nekos, knowing that he is outnumbered and out gunned at this point. As soon as he believes that he is far enough away, he turns and runs back down the hallway, calling for backup as he runs.

After the guard is gone from sight, the black tailed neko knees next to Sephiroth. "Where did he hit?" Sephiroth merely looks at the neko with a mixture of shock and disbelief. For even though the voice is muffled by the helmet, it is a voice that he cannot forget no matter how many years have passed.

Noticing that Sephiroth is still unresponsive to the helmeted neko, Cloud carefully moves from his spot against the wall. As he approaches Sephiroth, he begins to shake, knowing in the back of his mind that his life will never be the same once again.

When he approaches, Sephiroth turns to him, fear in his eyes, something that Cloud has seen only once before. He knees down and carefully begins to remove Sephiroth's shirt so that strange neko can see how bad the damage is, but once it is off, Cloud cannot help but release a shocked gasp.

The bullets have managed to hit just left of his heart, and two in his stomach. Three wounds that are impossible to heal with the time they have.

Cloud looks up at him, their eyes meeting before Sephiroth breaks the shared look and turns to the stranger. "I had thought that I had killed you, all those years ago. But it seems that I was wrong about that as well." He spares Cloud one more look before hanging his head. "Cloud, I know that you hate me. You have every right to. But I need you to listen to me this one last time." He licks his lips, trying to gather his words but only managing to stain his pale lips scarlet. "Go with Zack. This was all my fault, and now I will reap that which I have sown. Go with him, and live the life you should have had."

Cloud looks up to the masked neko, seeing if he understood the strange words coming from Sephiroth's mouth. Instead, he sees the neko lift his mask off, revealing the all too familiar spiky hair of the neko he once fell in love with. Cloud does not believe his eyes, for he clearly remembers seeing his mate bleed out in the snow, however now his eyes tell him differently.

"Go." The raspy voice of Cloud's former captor breathes out.

A part of Cloud wishes to stay with Sephiroth as his end seems to be near, despite everything that has happened between the two of them, however feeling Riku hold his arm in fear draws him back to the reality of the situation. As much as he would like to be able to be there for Sephiroth as a small thanks for trying to protect him since their arrival at the Breeding Program, he knows that he must put the his own life, and the lives of his past mate and cub before his own wishes.

Cloud stands with tears silently running down his cheeks, gathers Riku into his arms and begins to walk down the hall in the direction the others have gone. A hand is placed on his shoulder and as Cloud turns to look at Zack, a look of understanding passes between them.

They know that in the last 9 odd years, many things have happened to the both of them, and they are not the same people that they were before. However, they have a chance once more to try again. To try and make some good from all of the bad that has happened.

Riku looks over at Zack a slightly confused look on his young face. "Who are you?"

Zack removes his hand from Cloud's shoulder in order to ruffle the cub's hair. "Let's just say that I'm a very good friend of you mother's."

….

After a few minutes of running after the guard had tried to attack the group, Allen suddenly realizes that Cloud and Riku are not with them anymore. He asks some of the kittens if they have seen the two snow leopard nekos, but they don't seem to know and are too frightened by what is happening to be of any more help.

Suddenly Fai's youngest, Sora, breaks away from the group and begins running back the way that they came. Allen calls for him to come back, but the kitten does not heed his words. Allen turns and runs after the kitten, feeling the familiar presences of Kanda and Alma following him.

After a few hallways, they manage to catch up with the fast kitten. But when they find him, they also manage to find Cloud and Riku as well. Allen notices the strange neko jogging next to Cloud, and lets his guard down just a bit as he notices the familiar clothing of the masked man he had talked to when they left the common room.

Riku look over his shoulder and catches sight of Sora. He begins to wiggle to be put down, and once his feet touch the ground, he runs up and hugs Sora in the middle of the hallway. The two than take the hand of the other and begin to run down the hall back towards the others. The five adults quickly following them.

When they are about to catch up with the others, they see that the rest of the group is waiting for Lavi to punch in a code that will open the final door that leads to the main delivery area for the Breeding Program. This extended covered area is the last area between them and the vans from the Black Order waiting in the blinding sunlight beyond to take them away from this place, and towards freedom.

Allen sees the garage style door slide up and Lavi gesture for everyone to follow him out. Lenalee looks back to find Allen and the others and gestures for them to hurry up as they can hear the pounding footsteps of multiple facility guards and personal right behind them.

The kittens are able to make it out first, followed quickly by Zack and Cloud. However, before Kanda, Alma, and Allen have made it half way across the large room, someone manages to set the doors to begin closing.

As they run, Allen trips and quickly loses his balance and falls to the ground as Kanda and Alma continue running. Alma notices first and runs back to Allen, pulling the younger neko to his feet as Kanda turns to head back. Alma calls for him to keep going as the doors move closer and closer to the ground.

Kanda ducks to get under the door and sends a silent prayer that the other two will make it out.

Alma and Allen make it with the door is nearly to the ground. Not bothering to explain what he is doing, Alma knocks Allen to the ground and begins sliding him under the door, knowing that the shorter neko is still not short enough to be able to crawl under the door fast enough.

Once Allen is past the closing door, Alma turns to face the mass of people running towards him, knowing that he will have to find his own way out. Not that he had not already considered this and resigned himself to this fact as soon as he heard about the plan.

A single figure strides through the crowed towards Alma, fire and anger in her delicate features.

"You are not the one we want." Lulubell's words bite through the air, but Alma is unaffected by her words. "However, we may have use for you yet."

Alma grins, knowing that this is all part of his contingency plan. He allows the guards to surround him and begin escorting him back into the depths of the facility. All the while playing with a small device in his pocket.

….

Allen watches the door slide shut, effectively stopping Alma from being able to follow them, keeping him prisoner in that horrible place. Allen cries out his name, hoping that he will reply, hoping that the door will open once more and Alma will stride out grinning all the while.

Allen feels arms slip around him, pulling him away from the door. He never lets the door leave his sight as he is maneuvered into a bridal like position in Kanda's arms.

When he does tear his eyes away from the door and look up at Kanda, he lets his eyes ask the silent question of why.

Kanda shakes his head gently as he jogs towards the vans. "He knew what he was doing." A moment later, and so softly that Allen is almost unsure as to whether or not he really heard it or thought it he hears "He'd better know what he's doing."

Before Allen can ask what those words mean, the sound of a large explosion fills the air, the resulting shock wave sending Kanda and Allen flying forward and into the blinding light that is the beginning of freedom.


	27. Epilogue

Epilogue (Five Years Later)

Allen wakes up from a peaceful sleep with the sun streaming into the room, warming and brightening the simple room with its rays. He lets out a pleasant sigh before turning his head to see his mate still sleeping soundly next to him, his dark hair spread out around the two of them. A smile graces his lips at the sight, knowing that these peaceful moments mean more than anything to him.

His ears twitch slightly at the sound of the door to their room being opened. He relaxes his face and slides his eyes closed, hoping to be able to fool the intruders.

He hears the light pitter-patter of small feet and struggles to maintain his composure. When the footsteps cease, he allows his ears to prick forward ever so slightly, knowing what is about to happen. Suddenly his feet are pounced from and he sits up quickly and grabs one of the intruders, tickling them into submission.

Allen glances over and sees his mate doing much the same thing to their other child and being rather effective at it if the giggles are anything to go by.

Eventually the laugher of all four of them dies down and Allen leans back contentedly. Kanda leans over and gives his Moyashi a quick peck on the cheek, effectively ensuring that their twins are making gagging and disgusted noises. Kanda gives a slight snort before pulling back and sitting upright once more.

The oldest of the twins crawls forward on the bed and places a hand on Allen's rather swollen stomach. "When do you think that my new brothers and sisters will be ready to come out?" He looks up at Allen with his nearly black eyes full of curiosity and wonder.

Allen raises a hand and gives the kitten's hair a quick ruffle, making his ears go back before springing up once again. "Well Sasuke, they will be ready when they are ready. We can't rush them or else they may never want to come out."

Sasuke's eyes grow large at this and he looks down to where his hand is pressed. His twin come up behind him and sets his own hand next to Sasuke's. "We won't rush you, we just can't wait to meet you as all."

Kanda gives a short chuckle and ruffles the blond hair of the youngest twin. "You might not have to wait too much longer, Naruto. Your mother's been carrying them for quite some time, why they might be ready any day now." He gives Allen a pointed look which makes Allen stick his tongue out at him.

Naruto looks all around Allen's stomach as though searching for something. "I just don't understand how they got in there in the first place." He looks between his mother and father, looking for an explanation.

Kanda coughs and looks away while Allen turns a bright red and begins to sputter random words, not knowing what to tell the four year old.

Thankfully, he is saved the task of having to come up with an age appropriate explanation when the ring of the doorbell rings throughout the moderate sized home.

Kanda growls a bit before standing up to and searching for a shirt to go with the sweatpants he hand worn to bed the previous night. Allen also works on trying to be presentable by also looking for a shirt, only his search goes much more slowly as his stomach often makes his want to simply sit down and forget the effort.

As he finally finds a shirt, his twins race out of the room, with cries of delight as their visitors make their way into the house. When Allen finally makes his way down the stairs and into their living room, he reaches down to grab a stray cub that is trying to make a mad dash up the stairs. Not even pausing in his movements, he takes the cub's hand and guides him back to his parents and siblings.

Once in the living room, Allen relaxes after finally being able to sit down after his careful trek down the stairs, the litter in his stomach moving in protest. When he relaxes he allows himself a wide smile upon seeing his visitors. After all, it wasn't everyday that Cloud and Zack were able to venture out with all of their cubs. Even Kadaj is there, even though he is attempting to sulk by the door as Naruto pulls at his pant leg, trying to pull him into the room with the rest of them.

As he makes his way over, he walks past and grabs his youngest brother who is once again trying to scale the stairs and drags him back to the group. Upon being set down, Vaan turns and pouts at him before flopping into his older brother's lap.

Rekks, Vaan's twin, gives his younger brother an annoyed look before settling further into his mother's lap.

Cloud sighs and shakes his head at the two of them, knowing that without a doubt that they are going to be trouble when they finally grow up. In the meantime, he turns back and takes note of just how large Allen's stomach has been growing. Without a doubt, signaling that multiples are on the way once again for the younger bearer.

Allen notices Cloud and Zack's gazes at this stomach and blushes a bit, but simply reaches over and takes one of Kanda's hands into his own.

Their visitors stay only briefly as the two toddlers are easily distracted, and the older cubs also show signs of stress being there, at least one of them still not completely happy that his 'mother' has so many friends and supporters after his father was left to die. Allen gives Cloud and especially Zack a look of sympathy at this, knowing that it has not been easy for them with the older cubs, and with each other's pasts now having to be put forward and pushed aside to start anew once more.

….

Later that afternoon, Allen has been taking a nap on the couch, not wanting to face the stairs quite yet, when he feels a slight pain rippling through him. At first he ignores it and continues with his nap, but when a second similar, but slightly more painful ripples occurs, his eyes shoot open.

Struggling to sit up from his relaxed position, he calls for Kanda, hoping that his mate is not outside with the kittens. After a couple of minutes he hears small footsteps running to him. He turns his head to see Sasuke standing near him with a worried expression. "Can you go find your dad for me, please?"

Sasuke nods and runs off back into the upstairs of the house. Not long after, the smaller footsteps return accompanied by a larger set.

Allen finishes working himself into a sitting position as Kanda makes his way to sit next to him, concern evident in his eyes. "Is it time?" Allen simply nods in return.

Kanda pulls out a cellphone and hands it to Allen. "Call Aerith, I'll go get the car ready."

….

A few hours later, Allen lets out an exhausted sigh. He smiles slightly as Kanda leans over and give him a small kiss on his sweat drenched forehead. As Kanda pulls away, Allen hears him mummer "You did well."

He desperately wants to close his eyes, wanting sweet sleep to take his exhaustion away, but he is determined to stay awake. After all, he already took one brief unexpected nap, and now he wants to be able to see his kittens before sleep takes him once more.

As if reading his mind, Reever enters the room with Lenalee and Lavi behind him, each carrying a small tightly wrapped bundle. Allen's face lights up at the sight.

Lenalee approaches first, passing the small bundle to Allen. A bright tuft of red hair is the first thing that Allen notices about the kitten, that and the slight smile as he sleeps. Lavi approaches next, a second bundle being added to Allen's arms. When he looks down at his daughter, her eyes are already trying to open and a tiny hand reaches out grabs his finger, making him note that she will probably be a rather strong and stubborn one.

Finally Reever approaches with the last bundle. Even from this angle Allen can see the dark tufts of jet-black hair peaking out of the pale brown blanket. Allen smiles down when the last kitten is handed to him, noticing that this kitten too sleeps peacefully.

Reever clears his throat, "Congratulations to the two of you and your new triplets, and to the proud parents of a new bearer."

Kanda and Allen share a brief look of surprise before looking down at their kittens, instinctively looking towards the smallest with the black hair. They look back up at Reever who nods at their deduction.

Allen sits there, a bit dazed as Kanda leans over and kisses him deeply on the lips. "Thank you."

Once they part a very confused looking nurse walks into the room. She looks at them for a moment before wordlessly passing a blank envelope to them. Allen takes the envelope and she leaves the room in a hurry.

Allen and Kanda share a quick confused yet curious look before Allen carefully rips open the top of the envelope. Turning the envelope upside down, a single photograph falls out landing on Allen's lap. He sees writing on the back and feels quite confused by the words until we meet again.

Turning the photo over Allen cannot help the gasp that escapes. In the photo is of a sunny beach background, but the part that makes his heart stop for a moment is the image of a smiling Alma. It takes a moment to recover from the shock but after that recovery, Allen notices that Alma is standing next to a dark haired female neko and that Alma is holding a neko kitten that appears to be about three years old.

Passing the photo to Kanda, and after witnessing his mate go through the same reactions, the two look between one another and the photo. Eventually they share a quick chuckle before passing the photo to Lenalee and Lavi, both of whom experience the same range of emotions.

However, that moment of shock and relief passes as, two small kittens burst into the room and run to jump on to the bed before Kanda quickly catches them to which Allen breaths out his thanks. The two boys wiggle and pout wanting to see their new siblings, but settle when Kanda holds each of them to look, but not yet touch.

Not long after, the small room quickly begins to fill up with friends and family that they have met in the past and since they have arrived in Radiant Guardian alike all smiling and offering their thanks. The photo of Alma is passed around to those who knew and met him, and several times a nurse comes by to tell them to limit the number of visitors and to let Allen rest, but none of them, including Allen listen.

Eventually Lenalee manages to get everyone to calm down before asking the one question that has been burning on the minds of those present. "What are their names?"

Kanda looks over and points to each in turn. "The blond here is the oldest, she is Temari. The middle kitten with the red hair, he will be called Gaara."

At this point Allen take over after giving a small kiss on the top of each mentioned kitten's head. "And the youngest is the one with black hair is Sai."

The room erupts in applause and further congratulations for the pair and for their twins at now being the older siblings. However, after awhile, Allen really begins to show signs of his exhaustion and Kanda discreetly encourages everyone to head home, thankful that Aerith volunteered to watch the twins for the night.

Once the mass of friends and family have left the room, Allen releases a heavy sigh, a smile of contentment on his lips. He reaches out a hand, which Kanda takes into his own and gives it a slight squeeze.

Seizing the moment, Kanda leans over giving his Moyashi a slow and deep kiss before pulling back.

Allen stares back Kanda as his mate retreats from the kiss, a grin on his mate's face. Allen grins as well, knowing that despite everything that has happened and everything that will eventually happen, he has a mate that will always be with him no matter what. And for now, that is all he needs.


End file.
